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LIFE REMINISCENCES 



OF AN 



OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 



BV 



JOHN G. MORRIS, D. D. 






a^'^' 






PHILADELPHIA: ' 
LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 



^ 



^^ 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGREftS 

WASHINOTOM 






I Mere retrace 
(As in a map the voyager his course,) 
The windings of my way thro' many years. 

Cowper. 

Hoc est 
Vivere bis, vita posse priori frui. 

Martial. 

Student.— How does this book begin, go on and end.? 
Tertius.— It has a plan, but no plot: life has none. 

" Posterity is always lond of details." 



Copyright, 1896. 

BY THE 

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 



/S-3(,iij 



t 



CONTENTS, 



PAGE 

Preface 5 

CHAPTER I. 
Birth — Parents— Col. Armand — Interesting Documents — 
Early School Days — Teachers in York County Academy — 
Early Religious Impressions — Early Reading— Music — 
Village Soldiering — German and French — York Fairs 
and Battalion Days — Training of Boys 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Student Life at Princeton and Dickinson Colleges .... 25 

CHAPTER III. 
Student Life at New Market, Va., Nazareth, Pa., and 
Princeton Seminary, 1823-1825 — The General Synod at 
Frederick, Md., in 1825 51 

CHAPTER IV. 
Licensed to Preach— Gettysburg Seminary 85 

CHAPTER V. 
Call to Baltimore, and Pastoral Life ; 1827 to i860 .... 97 

CHAPTER VI. 
Early History of the "Lutheran Observer" 149 

CHAPTER VIL 
Scientific Studies and Offices 166 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Resignation as Pastor — Librarian of the Peabody Institute. 176 

(iii) 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IX. 
Summer Residence at Lutherville — Lectures and Readings. i88 

CHAPTER X. 
Church Correspondence 205 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Diets, and Academy of Lutheran Church History in 
America — Answers to Questions — Ministers' League — 
Preaching in Strange Pulpits — Good Advice from Mem- 
bers — Evangelical Alliance — Fliedner, of Kaiserwerth — 
Consubstantiation 223 

CHAPTER XII. 
Church Miscellanea : Style of Preaching in Our Church — 
Argument for Study — State of Theology — Progress — 
D. D. in Our Church — Catechisation — Pastoral Visiting — 
Luther Memorial Meetings in 1883 — Change of Views on 
Lutheran Theology — Election of Professors — Collecting 
Funds for the Seminary — The Luther Statuette 265 

CHAPTER XIII. 
General Miscellany : Jenny Lmd — Excursions — Private 
Libraries — The Rebellion — Giving Offence Unintention- 
ally — Kostlin's Life of Luther — Bad Treatment — House 
Robbed — Curious Wedding Event — Kossuth in Balti- 
more — List of Lutheran Publications— Visits of For- 
eigners 316 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Offices Held— Published Writings and Manuscripts— Papers 
Read Before Historical Societies in Maryland — Learned 

Societies 351 

CHAPTER XV. 
Last Days — Sickness — Death — Burial — Resolutions, etc. . 361 



PREFACE. 



An autobiography is not the most popular style 
of writing, and it has even been said that some 
men write the history of their own lives because 
nobody else will do it. This may be true in part, 
when men are ambitious of notoriety without any 
merit ; but when a man writes for his own amuse- 
ment and that of his immediate friends, it is a whole- 
some recreation from severer studies, and should not 
offend the delicate sensibility of any one. Men 
may say what they like ; there is no doubt of the 
fact that most persons prefer reading a candid 
man's account of himself rather than that furnished 
by any one else. 

I have nothing very remarkable to relate con- 
cerning myself, yet that which concerns me may 
hereafter be interesting to those immediately con- 
nected with me, and some of the facts which I shall 
state may perhaps be of some interest to those out- 
side of my circle of friends, if they should ever 

(V) 



VI PREFACE. 

have an opportunity or desire of reading these 
pages. 

Many little incidents which would properly be- 
long here are recalled in my * * Fifty Years, ' ' and 
I did not wish to repeat them by transferring them 
to this book. Indeed, that whole volume may be 
regarded as one of " Reminiscences," only not 
quite as personal as this one. This is more private 
and professional; that, more public and historical. 
This is intended for my family and special friends; 
that, for anybody who will take the trouble to 
read it. 

It has been my pleasure for many years to jot 
down everything of this character as it occurred to 
me, and then enlarging upon the same facts at ir- 
regular intervals and adding others, so that repeti- 
tions may be observed, and possibly contradictions. 

If the whole had been written continuously such 

imperfections might have been avoided, but I have 

not taken much pains to remove them from these 

pages. 

The Author. 
Baltimore, 189^. 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH — PARENTS — COI.. ARMAND— INTERESTING DOCUMENTS 
—EARLY SCHOOL. DAYS— TEACHERS IN YORK COUNTY ACAD- 
EMY — EARLY RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS— EARLY READING — 
MUSIC— VILLAGE SOLDIERING — GERMAN AND FRENCH — 
YORK FAIRS Ai^'D BATTALION DAYS — TRAINING OF BOYS. 

I HAVE abundant leisure at present, and have been 
fond of scribbling all my life. The six quarto vol- 
umes of my own newspaper articles, and numerous 
manuscript-s which I have carefully preserved, will 
give full evidence of this propensity. I have amused 
myself for many years by jotting down these remi- 
niscences for my own gratification and that of my 
family and other friends who may take the trouble 
of reading them, if they should ever appear in print. 
If they serve no other purpose, they may perhaps 
throw some light upon the inner history of one sec- 
tion of our Church during the transition period in 
which I have lived, and with which I was more or 
less closely associated. 

I was born in York, Pa., on November 14, 1803. 
My father was Dr. John Morris, who settled in 
that town when the Legion of the Revolutionary 
army to which he belonged was disbanded in that 
place in 1783. He served as surgeon's mate during 

(7) 



8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

the war, and was commissioned as surgeon some 
time during its progress. From a fragmentary diary 
of his in my possession it appears that he came to 
this country in 1776 from Rintelm, a village in the 
Duchy of Brunswick, in Germany, and as he says, 
" I immediately joined the American army." This 
shows that he did not come over with the Hessian 
troops in the service of England against the Ameri- 
can colonies, but as an independent adventurer. 

He was assigned to duty in Col. Armand's Parti- 
zan Legion, and participated in all the adventures 
of that corps until the close of the war. His Ger- 
man name was Moritz, but I have heard my mother 
say that he was advised by the American officers to 
change it to Morris, so that if he should be taken 
prisoner by the English he would not be suspected 
of being a Hessian deserter and shot. His commis- 
sion as full surgeon, signed by B. Lincoln, Secre- 
tary at War, and by Elias Boudinot, President of 
the Congress of the United States, dated Princeton, 
July 25, 1783, is still in my possession. I have also 
his certificate of membership of '" The Cincinnati," 
signed by George Washington, in 1783, and the 
diploma of the society, also signed by Washington, 
at Mount Vernon, October 31, 1785. Being the 
only survivor of our family, this diploma entitles 
me to membership, but I have never availed myself 
of the privilege. These documents, however, have 
secured me membership in the * ' Society of the Sons 
of the American Revolution, " and they have been 
of benefit in other ways. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 9 

Various other papers, diaries and letters of Revo- 
lutionary interest, mostly written by my father, have 
become my property, and are sacredly cherished. 
Among them is a highly complimentary letter from 
Col. Armand (Marquis de la Rouerie), dated York, 
November 25, 1783, of which I here give a literal 
copy from the original. 

(Copy.) 

York, November 25, 1783. 
Dr. John Morris, 

Sir^ — At the instant the Legion is disbanded, it becomes my 
duty to give you my thanks for the attention, cares, intelli- 
gence, propriety -with which j'ou conducted yourself in both 
capacity of second and first surgeon to the first partizan legion 
under my command. I cannot be silent on the bravery which 
you evidenced on all occasions when you accompanied the 
legion to the enemy. I shall add that your conduct in general 
has merited and obtained the esteem and attachment ot all the 
officers. I am happy in this opportunity to express myself 
those sentiments for you. I have the honor to be. Dr. Sir, your 
most obedient, humble servant, 

ARMAND, MARQUIS DK LA ROUERIB. 

When the Legion was ordered to York for disband- 
ment, my father there met Barbara Myers, whom 
he married, and of whom I am the youngest child. 

I have no recollection of my father, he having died 
in 1808, but my mother lived until 1837. He settled 
in York, after his honorable discharge from the 
army, and remained there all his subsequent life. 
He once made a tour to what is now Tuscarawas 
county, Ohio, then a region almost uninhabited by 



lO LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

civilized people, and regarded as a very long and 
perilous journey from York. He went for the pur- 
pose of inspecting some bounty lands received from 
the government for military services, and also of 
settling there if prospects were favorable. But on 
his return from this tour my mother informed me 
that before he dismounted from his horse he said, 
' ' Child, we will stay at home. ' ' 

His practice was extensive, and he was the only 
educated physician in York county for some years. 
To accommodate patients from a distance, and who 
were able to pay well for his services, he set apart 
three or four rooms as a hospital in his house, which 
he built of brick, in which all his children were born. 
It is still standing, on the south side of Market street, 
between Beaver and Water streets, nearly opposite 
Dr. Jacob Hay's residence. 

His diaries show that he was a truly pious man. 
They are filled with prayers, meditations. Scripture 
quotations, and among them is a very creditable 
German poetical eulogy on Rev. Jacob Goering, 
who baptized me, and who died in 1807. His biog- 
raphy was written by Rev. Dr. Chas. A. Hay in 
1887, and published by our Publication Board in 
Philadelphia. 

My mother was one of the most saintly women I 
ever knew She was a diligent and daily reader of 
the Scriptures, and of pious German books popular 
among good people of those times. She never pur- 
posely neglected public worship, and had daily 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. II.. 

prayers in the family as far back as I can remember. 
Under God her maternal teachings and prayers and 
blameless example have influenced my whole life. 

I have heard it said by some who knew my mother 
in the days of her young womanhood that she was 
remarkably handsome, and I myself used to gaze 
with the proudest admiration upon her clearly-cut, 
classical side face. I never saw one more symmet- 
rical, or one that came nearer to the artistic ideal of 
feminine beauty, and she was as good as beautiful. 

The only children of the seven bom to my parents 
who were ever known to me w^ere my brother Charles, 
whose name will frequently recur in these reminis- 
cences, and my brother George, who died unmar- 
ried in York in 1856. I was the youngest of the 
family. All the rest, except Charles and George, 
died before I was born. 

The first school I ever attended was taught by an 
old man named Miller. It was kept in a small 
building behind Mr. Schmucker's church, and was, 
I suppose, the parochial school. I could not have 
been over eight years old, and I do not remember 
how long I w^as a pupil there, neither do I remember 
when I was transferred to the York County Academy, 
but it must have been at a very early age. My 
brother Charles taught me my first arithmetic, and 
I have not forgotten the boyish fun I tried to make 
out of ' ' carrying ' ' the amount of one column of 
figures to another. He bore with mj nonsense for 
a while, but soon had enough of it. Michael Bentz, 



12 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

who will be remembered in York, must have gone 
there as parish schoolmaster and church preceptor 
at an early period, for I went to his night school, 
kept in the small building behind the church, when 
I was very young. All the other pupils were older 
than I. His discipline was not rigid, for when one 
of these lads was rebuked for carelessness, or pun- 
ished in any way, he would take his hat and walk 
out, and that was the end of it. 

I began Latin and Greek in the York County 
Academy under the tuition of two New England 
teachers named Merrill. They were very imperfect 
linguists, and allowed us to do as we pleased, and 
we made no progress until Samuel Bacon, in many 
respects a very remarkable man, and a man named 
White, took charge of the school. These two men 
served at different times, and I was a pupil under 
each. 

Mr. Samuel Bacon came to York as a Yankee 
schoolmaster, and after having taught several years 
joined the army as a commissioned officer. He was 
wounded in a duel with another officer ; some time 
after he resigned and returned to York, where he 
studied law and' was admitted to the bar, and mar- 
ried the daughter of Jacob Barnitz, Esq., one of the 
most respectable gentlemen of York. Mr. Bacon 
became a zealous Christian, and officiated as a lay 
preacher in the Episcopal church. He subsequently 
went to Africa, and founded a colony of colored 
emigrants, and may be regarded as the originator, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 3 

or at least a prime mover in the work of African 
colonization. His biography was written by a New 
England author. 

James Steen afterwards became teacher, and 
under him I made some progress.* It must have 
been in 1818 or 1819 that Samuel S. Schmucker, 
who had just returned from the University of Penn- 
sylvania, or it may have been from the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton, where he studied some 
months, took charge of the Academy, and under 
him I was prepared for college. I need hardly state 
that he was the son of the venerated Rev. Dr. John 
George Schmucker, at that time, and for many years 
after, the pastor of the only Lutheran church at that 
time in York. I little thought that in less than ten 
years after I would commence an association with my 
schoolmaster in the prosecution of most of our 
church enterprises of the last fifty years or more. 
He must have been about twenty-one at that time, 
and was looked upon as a promising young man. 
He did not go into the company of the young people 
of the town, and hence he was not a favorite. He 
was studious, and loved his books more than society. 
He was probably the best educated young candidate 
for our ministry of those days, and plainly far in 
advance of all of them in his knowledge of English, 
and in ability to use it in the pulpit. When he was 
licensed to preach there were no vacancies in Penn- 

■^Thaddeus Stevens, about this time, was teacher of the 
Female Department of the Academy. 



14 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

sylvania, and the present system of Home Missions 
and individual enterprise was unknown. In those 
days candidates were few, and vacancies fewer still ; 
but none ever thought of opening- a way for himself, 
if he did not find one. Mr. Schmucker accepted a 
call from New Market, Shenandoah county, Va., at 
that time a poor, forlorn, half-anglicized hamlet, but 
still where many of our people were kind, hospitable 
and devoted to their mother church. I shall have 
occasion to speak of this place again. This was the 
only pastoral charge Mr. Schmucker ever had. He 
remained there four or five years, until called to be 
the first professor of the Theological Seminary at 
Gettysburg in 1825. 

Most of the boys of what may be called the first 
families in York were pupils in the Academy during 
my time. Two of them became members of Con- 
gress, five or six were lawyers and physicians, and 
others were men of business, and, while several of 
them became good citizens, they lacked energy and 
decision, and were satisfied with living a humdrum, 
indolent sort of life, content with mediocrity in all 
things. The children of some of them are very re- 
spectable people. In September, 1887, the hun- 
dredth anniversary of the York County Academy 
was celebrated. I was invited to make a speech, in 
which, among other things, I said that I was proba- 
bly the only surviving pupil of the school of the 
period preceding 1820, when I left it; but after my 
address an old gentleman, whose name I forget, was 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 15 

introduced to me, who said that he also had been a 
pupil before 1820. I gave the audience a number of 
reminiscences, and mentioned the names of many of 
my school contemporaries and acquaintances, not one 
of whom is living, but many of whom became influ- 
ential citizens and reared large families. I am the 
only one of that crowd that studied for the Lutheran 
ministry. 

Some of the boys went to dancing school, but my 
mother would, not send me, neither had I any incli- 
nation that way. I never in my life stood upon a 
floor to dance. I conceived a special distaste for 
this amusement when I saw that the stupidest boy 
in our school was the best dancer in the company. 
I had no ambition to learn an art which required no 
brain, and nothing but agility of heel. 

A few of the boys occasionally used profane lan- 
guage, but this habit I never indulged in. One of 
them tried hard to get the rest of us to drink liquor 
occasionally. 

I remember attending a prayer-meeting on Sun- 
day afternoon for some weeks at the Episcopal 
church, then served by Rev. Mr. Armstrong. Sev- 
eral other boys also went. No meeting of a similar 
character was held on Sunday, although Rev. Mr. 
Schmucker for many years had one in the old school- 
house behind his church on a week night, which 
was attended by a dozen or two old pious members. 

I seldom missed Sunday morning church from my 
earHest days, although I then understood very little 



l6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

of the German sermon. I was taught this duty by 
my pious mother, and made it a matter of conscience, 
although I felt no special religious interest in the 
service. Perhaps it was habit, or the result of 
domestic training; but it was good, whatever may 
have been the motive. 

One Sunday morning a boy, five or six years older 
than myself, led me down to Loucks' dam to fish, 
and every toll of the bells from the town churches, 
which I heard distinctly, and which really seemed 
louder than usual, sent a pang to my heart, for I 
was consciously neglecting a duty, and acting con- 
trary to my mother's wishes. Even to this day, 
whenever I pass that place in the cars to Harris- 
burg, the recollection of that Sunday morning comes 
up painfully. I do not mean to say that I feared 
offending God so much as I feared wounding my 
mother's feelings, if she had known it. 

She and several other pious women used to hold a 
prayer-meeting in her house, attended by not over 
five or six. I, of course, was always present, and 
took a boyish, although I will not say a religious, 
pleasure in it. I was then about thirteen years of 
age. 

At a very early age I acquired a fondness for read- 
ing plays and books in general. Such as were suitable 
to boys of my age v^ere not numerous. My brother 
George had a collection of modern plays, and these 
I read more diligently than I studied my school les- 
sons. I once ventured upon the composition of a 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 7 

play, but laid it aside, and never heard of it until I 
had grown up, when one of my brother's friends 
told me how he had showed it around, and what 
hearty laughs they had over it. 

The older young men of the town used to act 
plays in the upper room of the old court house. I 
once had a subordinate part in ' ' She Stoops to Con- 
quer/' assigned to me as a boy. My brother George 
acted Tony Lumpkin capitally well. 

I was always fond of spouting scraps of poetr}^, 
many of which I had committed to memory, as well 
as some larger extracts from Shakespeare, which I 
can recite at the present time, although I have for- 
gotten many other passages which I committed since 
those juvenile days. Thus I began very early what 
is now called elocution and voice culture. 

My juvenile reading was of course desultory. We 
had no large daily papers or illustrated weeklies or 
monthlies. Of course I went through Sanford and 
Merton, Robinson Crusoe, Thaddeus of Warsaw, 
and other popular books of that character. I read 
novels of the older school, for the modem school 
had not yet opened, and committed passages which, 
in my uneducated taste, I thought fine, some of 
vv^hich I can repeat at present, although I had not 
a good memory. Even about my fifteenth or six- 
teenth year I ventured on Milton, but I was not yet 
grown up to it, but Goldsmith, Boswell, Cowper, 
and other English authors of a like and unlike char- 
acter were greedily read. I found Johnson's prose 



l8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

too heavy for me, excepting his Rasselas, which I 
gloated over. A good portion of Swift was gone 
through; some of Addison, Sterne and other old 
English writers, and some of later years, as Pollock, 
Montgomery, Kirkwhite, Campbell and others. I 
tried Hume, but could not master him, and Gibbon 
was too heavy. 

I had learned German well enough to relish 
Kotzebue's plays and others of that school. I liked 
Gellert, but I could never get through Klopstock's 
Messiah, and I felt disposed to take off my hat and 
beg his pardon when, some years after, I stood at 
his grave in Altoona, Denmark. 

Later on, as I grew up, and during my student 
years, I read some of Scott's, Cooper's, Irving's, 
Dickens', Thackeray's, Macaulay's, Disraeli's, and 
many other novelists, and have continued to culti- 
vate English literature to a small extent ever since. 
I once sat in the same chair at Abbottsford which, 
it was said, Walter Scott occupied whilst writing 
many of his books, but I was not conscious of draw- 
ing any of his inspiration from it. Cook's Voyages, 
Plutarch's Lives, Mungo Park's Travels, Anarchar- 
sis, and a number of other travels and voyages were 
read, either before I went to college or during my 
college years. Goldsmith's Animated Nature, a 
book which naturalists now laugh at, was the only 
book on that subject to which I had access in these 
remote times, and it was perhaps the reading of this 
which imparted to me a taste for studies of a kindred 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I9 

character, which I have pursued with some interest 
in later years. 

I could not have been more than fourteen years 
old when I made an electrical machine, with a large 
bottle for a cylinder, and astonished my companions 
and others with plain experiments. I got tired of 
the affair, and have never since had any especial 
fondness for physics, and that is because I had never 
been taught it at school. In my day there was not 
a single article of apparatus used or blackboard illus- 
tration given. It was the " day of small things " in 
pedagogics in York County Academy, but wonder- 
ful improvements have been made since those times, 
and some good scholars have received their first 
training there. 

I had a fair voice for singing, and learned ' ' the 
notes " after a fashion. I took lessons on the flute, 
w^hen I was a boy, from Michael Bentz, but never 
played well, yet he put me in the " York County 
Band '• before I was fifteen. I abandoned my 
musical practice when I went to college. I learned 
enough of vocal music to ' ' raise the tunes " in a 
religious meeting. For years I " led " the singing 
in my week night meetings, which my church chor- 
ister did not feel himself bound to attend= That 
minister is deficient in his education, however 
learned he may be otherwise, who cannot, in an 
emergency, ' * raise the tune ' ' in meetings, and 
there are not a few of that unhappy class. 

We boys raised a soldier company, and our arms 



20 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

were at first light pikes of tin attached to the end of 
a long staff, but afterwards we got guns. I became 
quite an expert in the manual exercise and in com- 
pany drill, and have not forgotten it to this day. I 
also practiced sword exercise pretty thoroughly, and 
was strongly inspired with youthful military ardor. 
To this day I delight in looking upon military 
parades and hearing martial music, and I involun- 
tarily catch myself in closely watching and criti- 
cising the precision of movement and correctness of 
step. 

Our school debating society was vigorously carried 
on nearly every season, but like all juvenile societies 
of that character we soon quarreled and broke up, 
to be renewed with the same results. 

One of my boyish recollections is seeing the York 
Volunteers, composed of many of the first- class 
young men of the town, set out on their march to 
Baltimore, to resist the invasion of the British. The 
company took part in the battle of North Point, 
September 12, 1812. I distinctly remember how the 
mothers, wives, sisters and lady friends of these men 
wept as the company marched out of town to the 
tune of " The Girl I left Behind Me." I also re- 
member the day of their return, a few months after, 
when there was great joy in York. 

None of us boys were allowed pocket money by 
our parents, and this I think was not a commendable 
feature in the training of boys in those days. I hold 
that they should have a moderate monthly allow- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 21 

ance. It will save them from temptation, instead 
of leading them into it. Only one of our number 
had money, and we had reason to believe he did not 
come honestly by it. I do not mean to insinuate 
that he was a regular thief, but he had good opportu- 
nities at home of getting money without asking for 
it. Neither were the boys of those days dressed as 
genteelly as those of the present generation, though 
our parents w^ere not poor ; but times have changed. 
Quite recently a little boy in my family, who was 
much better dressed than I was at his age, insisted 
upon putting on a clean shirt and his Sunday trou- 
sers to go and see a base-ball game played by coun- 
try boys in the neighborhood. This trifling incident 
brought up the memory of the olden times when his 
grandfather was not dressed as well on Sunday as 
he was in a suit which he would not wear at a base- 
ball game. Few of us had even such an article as 
an overcoat in the winter. 

There was no German or French taught in the 
village or country schools, nor some other branches 
now considered indispensable. I learned French 
later in life, and improved in German, the rudiments 
of which I picked up from hearing it spoken a good 
deal in York. I never acquired a fluency in speak- 
ing French, for although I read it almost as well as 
English, owing to lack of intercourse with French 
speaking people my ear was never properly edu- 
cated to catch the words of persons who rapidly 
speak that language. I hold that no one can learn 



22 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

to Speak a foreign language fluently and correctly 
without daily conversation with natives. Hence I. 
do not think that many of our young Americans who 
go to foreign universities to prosecute medical or 
scientific studies are much profited by the lectures 
they hear in Paris or Berlin or elsewhere abroad. 
They do not know the languages well enough to un- 
derstand the professors. I have been surprised at 
not a few of my acquaintances, and other young 
men who have heard lectures abroad, how imper- 
fectly they spoke German or French, and I am sure 
they understood but little of what the professors said ; 
but they had the name of having studied abroad, 
and that was something. 

In those early days there were several annual 
events which excited the interest of us youngsters. 
These were the " Fairs " and the " Battalion Days." 
The first was a feeble imitation, or rather a resem- 
blance of the annual fairs in Germany, at which sales 
of all kinds of goods are held, and which are attended 
by respectable merchants from distant places for the 
sale of their various manufactures. But the * ' fairs ' ' 
formerly prevalent in the German counties of Penn- 
sylvania were nothing but country frolics, and the 
only traffic was in ginger-bread, small beer, raisins, 
oranges, and other small affairs. There was a dance 
at nearly every low tavern, and other immoralities 
were freely practiced. The town was crowded with 
country people, and all the thieves and other vulgar 
folks enjoyed a rich harvest. The stalls for the dis- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 23 

play and sale of the numerous articles were in and 
about the market house, and there the crowd as- 
sembled. We schoolboys also claimed the privilege 
of going to the ' ' fair, ' ' but I do not remember 
whether we had a holiday or not. 

Speaking of these fairs reminds me of a little in- 
cident worth mentioning. Some years ago one of 
our young ministers published an article on Luther, 
which denied the tradition that Luther's mother was 
attending a " fair " at Eisleben when her son was 
born. Our writer, knowing something of a Penn- 
sylvania fair and its demoralizing influence, main- 
tained that Luther's mother was a pious woman, 
who would not go to such a place, and therefore that 
was not her motive in going to Eisleben. This was 
printed in our most popular church paper, and the 
absurdity of it was not exposed by the editor. 

The Battalion Day was a sort of annual parade 
of all the militia in the county, but it was a military 
farce. It brought large crowds to town, and the 
store keepers and tavern-keepers and cake-women 
and small-beer venders reaped the profit. On this 
day we had holiday, for it was a day of universal 
interest. 

Some reminiscences which would be of no special 
interest to anybody lead me to make the following 
observation: If I had the training of boys I would 
do all in my power to encourage them by kind words, 
even when they failed in any public exercise, unless 
the failure was the result of idleness, and to applaud 



24 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

them when they did well. It is a great help to a 
boy who is struggling along in his studies. If he 
has no sympathy from his superiors he desponds, 
unless he has uncommon energy and self-will. I 
speak from painful experience, and I might tell a 
ta e of youthful sorrows founded upon this fact. I 
have taken a different course, and while I tenderly 
rebuke carelessness and neglect of books, yet I ap- 
plaud every honest effort to do well, and every in- 
stance of success in those young persons most nearl}^ 
associated with me. It cheers and encourages them, 
and excites a commendable ambition to learn, but 
to be constantly scolded, and sometimes laughed at, 
blunts their tender sensibilities and begets indift'er- 
ence. They lose all interest in their books and be- 
come sullen and discontented. 



CHAPTER II. 

STUDENT I.IFE AT PRINCETON AND DICKINSON COIXEGES. 

In September, 1820, at the age of seventeen, I en- 
tered the Sophomore class at Princeton College. 
Some other York boys had been there before, and 
two were still students when I went. My examina- 
tion was not severe, and far below what is demanded 
at the present time at any respectable college. I 
was an inexperienced country boy, never having 
been from home, and cherishing all the crude ideas 
and rustic oddities o{ an obscure village lad of sev- 
enteen who had never been among strangers. This 
sudden introduction among a large number of young 
men, every one of whom I thought superior to me 
in every respect, intimidated me, made me feel awk- 
ward, and exposed my rusticity to a ridiculous 
degree. 

The Pennsylvania village boys of those days had 
not the advantages of travel, sight-seeing, and in- 
teicourse with strangers which most of the sons of 
respectable families now enjoy, but we were kept at 
home, and our verdancy was nursed with care. It 
is true in those times there were no cheap excursions 

(^5) 



2 6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

to places of interest as at present, and young people 
seldom left their village or rural home even to visit 
the largest neighboring city. We seldom had inter- 
course with strangers, and our country manners were 
not improved, nor any self-reliance cultivated or en- 
couraged. 

My brother Charles accompanied me to Princeton, 
which then requir'ed two full days' travel to reach 
from York. 

I remember my trepidation in the presence of the 
Faculty, in the examination room, and also my ex- 
ultation when informed of my admission. I leaped 
down three or four steps from the door to the campus 
in one joyous bound, and rushed across the street to 
the hotel where my brother was waiting in painful 
anxiety for the result. I heard several students who 
were standing around, and who observed my ex- 
uberant delight, say, ' * That fellow has got through, 
surely." I was wild with joy. In 1886 I pointed 
out that identical spot to my grandson, Charles R. 
Trowbridge. 

Verdant and rustic as I was, I soon found some 
like myself, and a little more so. I, hoAvever, soon 
acquired respect, for I stood well in my classes, and 
had companionable qualities which were useful to 
me. From the very start I took an active interest 
in the ' ' American Whig Society, ' ' and won its prize 
of $30 for declamation. I, however, returned it to 
the society, as some others had done before me. 
This was considered liberal and honorable, and the 
act secured me additional respect. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 27 

During the two sessions of the Sophomore year I 
ranked among the "First Graders," with several 
others. The *' Grade " w^as awarded npon excel- 
lency of recitations only, and in some classes there 
were as many as five or six of equal rank ; but in 
my first Junior session I lost my first grade, but got 
the second. This was because I failed in mathe- 
matics, which I never liked, and did not diligently 
study. Another reason was that I " stumped, " that 
is, failed, in Bible recitation one Sunday afternoon. 

The studies of the Sophomore class were not equal 
in grade to those of the Freshman in most colleges 
of these times, and some branches were not taught 
at all which are now considered essential. The 
text-books were not as well edited as at present; 
the apparatus was not as extensive, and the work 
of teaching was performed by fewer men, and for 
the most part in a very perfunctory manner, at least 
so I thought. 

I indulged in no vulgar college mischief, and no 
dissipation, both of which I considered ungentle- 
manly, irrespective of their immorality ; but I do not 
think I was deterred from them by any religious 
motive. I remembered my mother. I was, how- 
ever, once unduly influenced to join in what was 
then, called a ' ' rebellion ' ' against the authorities, 
together with a majority of the students ; but we 
were finally subdued, and were let off very lightly. 
The college exercises were interrupted for a day, 
but upon reflection we relented, and confessed our 



28 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

error rather than be suspended from college. It 
was a rash, stupid and inexcusable affair, without 
cause or provocation of any kind. We thought we 
were entitled to a holiday on some occasion, and the 
Faculty refused, upon which we held an indignation 
meeting, and resolved that we would not attend 
recitation, which was ' * rebellion. ' ' We were led 
into the mischief by an influential young man, and 
blindly followed his dictation. He afterwards be- 
came a lawyer of high character, and a distinguished 
general in the Union army. 

Since I have come to years of discretion, and 
capable of taking an impartial view of things, I be- 
lieve that in nine out of ten cases of college disturb- 
ances the Faculty is right and the students are 
wrong. The rebellions are usually the result of in- 
discretion and false pride, and deserve the exercise 
of severe discipline. 

This was the only offense for which I was ever 
" called to account " at college. My conduct mark 
was always No. i, although I had many temptations 
in another direction. There were many dissipated 
fellows around me, yet I never yielded to their wiles 
nor indulged in their frolics. My allowance from 
home did not justify any extravagance of this kind, 
and besides I always " remembered my mother." 

My room-mate for a while (the word * ' chum ' ' was 
not used at Princeton in my time) was a young man 
three or four years my senior, and quite an erratic 
genius. He was dissipated, but yet a genial, tal- 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 29 

ented fellow. Strange, that over thirty years after 
I should be called upon to marry him to a foreign 
woman, with whom he had lived illegally for several 
years, and that a few years after that I should be 
summoned to a court in another State to give evi- 
denq^ in the case of his divorce. He was quite dis- 
tinguished for his legal attainments, but having an 
adequate income, and being careless of business, he 
did not succeed in practice. 

One hot afternoon, while some of the classes were 
at recitation, we heard the cry of fire in the village, 
but we did not move. Dr. Green, the President, 
came to us in great trepidation, and exclaimed as 
loud as his feeble voice would allow him, " Mr. 
Stockton's house is on fire." This we regarded as 
a call to the rescue, and the way we heeled it to the 
West End, where the house was situated, was a les- 
son to veteran firemen. We rushed in and dragged 
out all the furniture we could lay hands on, and 
finally, with the help of the tov/nspeople, we ex- 
tinguished the fire. Some of our boys, suspecting 
that there might be something in the cellar worth 
saving, found their way into it through the smoking 
ruins, and soon appeared, begrimed with dust and 
cobwebs, bearing in their arms lots of bottles of 
wine, and as there was no cork-screw in the com- 
pany, the heads of the bottles were broken by a 
knock on the fence. Some of our zealous farem.en 
did not get home till midnight, and not a few others 
were unfit for study next day, owing to severe head- 
aches contracted from their hard work at the fire I ! ! 



30 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Some contemporaries of mine at Princeton became 
distinguished men, and some who were modest, 
pious and exemplary young men did not keep the 
faith when they entered upon public life. When I 
came to Baltimore I found one who had been one of 
the " Religiosi, " as they were called at college, prac- 
ticing at the bar, besides holding a high position in 
the court, but he had abandoned his religious pro- 
fession, as well as his moral life. I could say the 
same of others, but it gives me more pleasure to say 
that most of that class of men maintained their in- 
tegrity to the end, as far as my observation ex- 
tended. One of these young lawyers at the Balti- 
more bar, who had graduated with high honors at 
Princeton before I went there, was a student dis- 
tinguished for his piety and Christian earnestness. 
He became skeptical, it was said," from reading 
philosophical writings, and lapsed into infidelity. 
He may have been a student of theology, but of 
this I am not certain. It is said Dr. Alexander 
would never give him up, but believing him an 
elect child of God he would be brought back by 
divine grace; in other words, he could not finally 
fall away because he was predestinated to eternal 
life! He did not return, whence it follows either 
that he was not predestinated, or if he was, that the 
elect may ' ' fall from grace. ' ' 

I once tried an experiment to ascertain whether 
fellow-students at college, who were not particularly 
intimate while there, remembered each other after 
a separation of thirty years. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 3I 

I had often observed, in his seat in the Senate of 
the United States, a member whom I knew at col- 
lege, though not as a familiar acquaintance, for he 
was two classes ahead of me and belonged to a 
different college society ; but I ventured one day in 
Washington to introduce myself, hardly expecting 
to be remembered by him, but to my surprise and 
gratification he recognized me after thirty years' 
separation, and said, " I not only remember you, 
but have kept trace of you ever since you went to 
Baltimore. ' ' This was Senator Pearce, of Maryland. 

There was a very different experience which I had 
on another occasion. I once rather familiarly ac- 
costed a minister, who had been a classmate in the 
Theological Seminary at Princeton, and with whom 
I recited and heard lectures every day for eight 
months, and ate at the same table, and yet to my 
surprise, and another emotion which I need not 
mention, he did not remember of ever seeing me, 
and of course did not know me, although only ten 
years had elapsed. I turned upon my heel, and 
muttered in tones loud enough to be heard, " Don't 
know much of anything ; bad memory. ' ' 

* * * * hj * 

How hard it is to get rid of college slang phrases ! 
Some of these uncouth and unclassical expressions 
cling to me to the present day. I can tell a Prince- 
ton man among a thousand if he uses certain words 
and sentences which were peculiar to that college 
exclusively. 



S2 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

One of my room-mates for a season was William 
Buchanan, a younger brother of James Buchanan, 
then a member of Congress, and afterwards Presi- 
dent of the United States. My room-mate was a 
young man of fine talents, but died soon after en- 
tering upon the profession of law in Chambersburg. 

This fact was the ground of my acquaintance with 
Mr. Buchanan when he was Secretary of State under 
President Polk, and subsequently President himself. 

When he was a young man living in Lancaster he 
also practiced in the York county court, where he 
was a close acquaintance of my brothers Charles and 
George. He was Mr. Polk's Secretary in 1846, 
when I went to Europe. I asked him for a private 
letter to some of our representatives abroad, in ad- 
dition to my passport. He refused at first, because, 
as he said, it was unusual and undiplomatic for a 
cabinet officer to give such letters to private travel- 
ers, but he would give it to me as a special private 
favor. These wily politicians want all their favors 
to have a special value. I dare say he gave this 
special favor to every respectable gentleman who 
asked for it. I spent several hours with him at the 
house of a mutual friend in Baltimore when he was 
on his way as embassador to St. Petersburg. I saw 
him frequently during his Presidency, when he al- 
ways inquired concerning my brothers and other 
York people. Once during his Presidency he and I 
occupied the same seat in the car between York and 
Baltimore on the return from a visit to Lancaster. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. $$ 

During my time at Princeton it was customary for 
some one to write an Honoriad upon the graduating 
class — a sort of poetical picture galler}^, describing 
the character of each man according to the preju- 
dice, or at least the immature judgment of the 
writer. I was mischievous enough to write one on 
the Juniors, in which, in doggerel verse, I depicted 
the character of each member according to my 
view. I made several copies of it, and deposited 
them in such places where I knew they would be 
found. The excitement was great, but I was not 
suspected except by one man, and I managed to 
silence him. The affair soon blew over, but I was 
apprehensive of discovery, which would have been 
anything but pleasant. Very few, however, took 
offence, for I gave most of them such exalted char- 
acters, and painted them in such flattering colors, 
they were rather pleased than other^vise. It was 
an inexcusable piece of mischief, but still it hurt 
nobody. I still have a copy of that Honoriad among 
my papers. I once read it to a gentleman who 
afterguards became a high officer of government, 
who thought it a good juvenile piece of mischievous 
nonsense in rhyme. 

There were the ordinary bullet-rolling, cracker- 
firing, and what was called ' ' funking ' ' (burning in 
the college entries a ball composed of all sorts of 
villainously offensive materials), and I do not re- 
member that any rascally perpetrator was ever dis- 
covered. Regularly, every summer session, some 
3 



34 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

buildings on the campus were destroyed by fire. 
The scamps who played this villainous trick were 
not as honest as a young student w^ho committed 
the same offense nearer home, but who, when con- 
verted from his evil ways by God's grace, made 
restitution to the college treasurer. 

One mean trick was often perpetrated. The 
morning prayer bell was rung so early that many 
students jumped out of bed, and rushed into the 
" Oratory " without washing, or without even 
dressing, being satisfied with throwing a large 
plaid cloak around us, which was universally worn 
at that time. During the night some scamps would 
steal into the unlocked rooms and blacken the faces 
of the fellows asleep. In that plight some of them 
would go into prayers, and the effect may be 
imagined. 

There was little or no intercourse between the 
students and the people of Princeton. We were not 
allowed to go outside of the campus in study hours, 
and there was no social visiting of ladies, as far as I 
know, except one. A young Virginian engaged 
himself to a lady of one of the ' ' first ' ' families in 
town, and married her soon after his graduation. 
He was obliged to get permission whenever he went 
to see her. Of course this rigid rule was often 
broken. 

There was no intercourse whatever between the 
professors and students, except in the class-room, and 
that was stiff and magisterial. A cold distance was 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 35 

observed at all other times. Nobody kindly advised 
us or sympathized with us, and thus the honest am- 
bition of many a studious young man was checked, 
at least not encouraged, when a word of friendly 
recognition or paternal advice would have imparted 
fresh vigor to his efforts, but there was nothing of 
this kind. Nothing was ever done or said to inspire 
us with a love for our studies, or with an honorable 
desire to become first-class scholars. I never heard 
of a student being invited ' ' socially " to a prof es- 
sor's house. 

I am not a pedagogist, but I think it a great mis- 
take in the method of education to show no interest 
in students outside of the recitation room except to 
watch and report them. This is the way we were 
treated, and feeling that no confidence was put in 
us, we became perhaps more mischievous on that 
account. Our rooms were visited every night at 
eight o'clock by a tutor, who gravely went round 
with his hat in his hand and opened every door 
without knocking, peeped in in a perfunctory and 
policeman style, and next morning reported the 
absentees. 

The style of religion was of the Presbyterian 
Puritanic type, of exceeding rigid morality but of 
no fervor. The pious students were called the 
" Religiosi, " and many of them were exemplary 
young men. The ideas of most of them on the 
sanctity of the Sabbath, as they called the Lord's 
day, appeared to me, young as I was, to be very 



^6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

strange. They would not write letters even to their 
parents on that day, for handling a pen implied 
work, and they would not study their Monday's 
lessons, because that was not religious work; but 
some of them, ambitious to be ready with their 
recitations on Monday morning, would gossip and 
talk nonsense all Sunday evening until the clock 
struck 12, and then they would apply themselves 
lustily to their books, and study hard for several 
hours. They were conscientious, but it set me to 
thinking on the peculiar training which these pious 
young men had on the subject of the Lord's day. 
I find fault with no one. I am not their judge, and 
will not be their censor. 

There were occasions of special religious interest, 
but there was nothing like the Inquiry Meetings, 
which have since become so popular in the churches. 
When a student seemed to be religiously moved h^ 
was exempted from recitation, that he might have 
time for meditation and prayer. The spirit of re- 
vivalism, which manifested itself in New England, 
was not cherished in Princeton. 

The Stmday exercises were worship in the morn- 
ing in the * ' Oratory, ' ' when Dr. Miller and Dr. Al- 
exander, from the Seminary, preached; at other 
times Dr. Green, the President, and other members 
of the Faculty, performed that service. There was 
Bible recitation in the afternoon, besides the repeti- 
tion of the Westminster Catechism. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 37 

One of the college exercises was declamation in 
the * ' Oratory ' ' ever}^ day after evening prayers. 
One day a classmate and I were to speak. I had 
committed a humorous speech, such as was not often 
heard there. I was to come first, and I begged him 
to let me declaim last, for I knew that the whole 
crowd would be in a roar, and that he, following me 
with his selection, would appear to a disadvantage, 
for I wanted him to have a chance, knowing that he 
was ambitious of being an orator. But he would 
not consent, and the result was as I had expected. 
They were loud and uproarous in their applause of 
my selection, and the poor fellow was not listened 
to, for they had not done laughing at my nonsense 
when he was half through with his declamation. 

At that time all the students and Faculty wore 
academic gowns at prayers, church, and sometimes 
on the street. 

There were two literary societies in college, the 
American Whig and the Cliosophic, between which 
there was an active Tivalry. Pro:^ound secrecy was 
observed as to the proceedings, and none but mem- 
bers were ever permitted to enter the halls, even 
when there was no meeting. There was great effort 
made to induce new students to join one or the 
other, and this was called ' ' huxing, ' ' which some- 
times resulted in ill feeling and angry words. There 
were no Phi Beta Kappa societies, or other fraterni- 
ties with Greek initials. I now believe that they 
create jealousies, envies and clannishness. 



38 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I think it was at Princeton that I first began to 
keep a diary, which I kept up, at intervals, for many 
years. It is a good thing, if properly done, for in 
after years it brings up many a reminiscence of im- 
portance, or at least of interest. Sometimes also it 
realizes what has been said : * ' The remembrance of 
youth is a sigh," but the ** olim meminisse juvat " 
is still good. Anthony Trollope, in his entertaining 
Autobiography, Chap. III., says: " Early in life, at 
the age of 15, I had commenced the dangerous habit 
of keeping a journal, and this I maintained for ten 
years. The volumes remained in my possession un- 
regarded — never looked at — till 1870, when I exam- 
ined them, and with many blushes destroyed them. 
They convicted me of folly, ignorance, indiscretion, 
idleness, extravagance and conceit. But they habit- 
uated me to a rapid use of the pen and ink, and 
taught me how to express myself with facility. ' ' I 
presume that m^ost young diarists can say the same. 

* H« H« * ♦ * 

There was a college celebration of the 4th of July, 
and I rem^ember being chosen to deliver the oration 
in the Presbyterian church in the town. 

It was here also that I began copying into a book, 
which I yet have, every short poetical quotation of 
a striking character which I could find, prose ex- 
tracts, beautiful similes, strong or otherwise re- 
markable expressions. This I have found of good 
service all my days, and I would advise every young 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 39 

man to do the same or a similar thing. Even ad- 
vanced students would derive benefit from it. Later 
I used Todd's Index Rerum, and the advantage was 
great. These manuscript books have brought to 
mind many a fact, date, quotation or expression, that 
otherwise would have been forgotten. 

^ ^ ^ ^ :^ ^ 

I do not know how it is at colleges now, but at 
Princeton we answered to our names four times a 
day, twice at prayers and twice at recitation. 

Riding on horseback or hiring vehicles was for- 
bidden on pain of* suspension. 

Among the students there were many, of course, 
from the most wealthy and influential families. I 
have met many of them since who were filling re- 
sponsible positions, and some of them have risen to 
eminence. Others have lamentably decayed, and I 
have had the painful experience of being asked for 
a small gift of money by a former classmate to buy 
bread for his hungry family. This man was not 
intemperate, but beggared for lack of brains and 
energ}' to gain a living by his profession, for which 
he was never fit. But he had no force of character, 
was respectably connected, destitute of talent, mar- 
ried, had a number of children, had no practice, ex- 
hausted the patience and liberality of his kindred, 
borrowed from his friends, and was wretchedly poor. 
Instead of trying to make a professional man of him 
they should have put him to a trade, but the proud 
family would have scorned the idea of havine a me- 



40 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

chanic of their number. I could give other melan- 
choly examples of decayed fellow students whose 
history is deplorable. 

COLLEGE LIFE AT DICKINSON, CARLISLE. 

About the year 1820 Dickinson College, at Car- 
lisle, Pa., was resuscitated by the Presbyterians, 
under the Presidency of Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, 
a celebrated minister and theological writer of New 
York. He had been paralyzed, and walked feebly 
with the use of crutches, and his speech was sensibly 
affected ; but his was a mighty genius, which flashed 
out brilliantly on many occasions. 

My brother Charles, who controlled my move- 
ments, thought that all Pennsylvanians should pat- 
ronize colleges in their own State, and besides, 
Carlisle being much nearer home, he concluded to 
transfer me to that institution. Accordingly, having 
spent the whole of the Sophomore and one -half of the 
Junior years at Princeton, I entered the Senior class 
at Dickinson, without examination, and graduated 
in 1823. My certificate of good standing at Prince- 
ton secured for me this privilege ; besides this Prof. 
Vethake, who had been one of the professors at 
Princeton during my time there, but who, a short 
time before, had accepted a position at Dickinson, 
was perhaps partial to me. There were nineteen of 
us in the class, and it was the first that was gradu- 
ated under the new government. It was afterwards 
said that sixteen of us became ministers. The one 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 4I 

who became the most distinoqiished as a public man, 
though not as a scholar, was George W. Bethune, 
who was an eminent minister of the Reformed 
Dutch church, and one of the most popular men in 
the country as a preacher, lecturer, platform orator 
and poet. He was a genial, whole-hearted man, and 
he and I kept up an intimate acquaintance until his 
death. He was a man of infinite wit and humor, 
and a universal favorite. His biography has been 
published, and extensively read. He died in the 
West Indies, and his remains were brought hom^e 
for burial. He was not studious in college, and 
seemed to be indifferent about learning. I have 
seen him scribble verses during recitation, and he 
was usually unprepared in his lessons. But in after 
years he made himself a good scholar. His wife 
was an incurable invalid, and he had no children. 
He had abundant leisure for study. He was un- 
gainly in person, and far from being ' ' one of your 
handsome men. ' ' In all other respects he was a 
model man„ 

There were others in that class who rose to some 
distinction, such as John Young, who became Pres- 
ident of Danville College, in Kentucky; Erskine 
Mason, son of the President, W. R. Vv^illiams, and 
others. 

In college Dr. IMason taught rhetoric, and lec- 
tured on Horace like a preacher does on a chapter 
of the Bible. His instruction was rich with facts 
and anecdotes of the most interesting character. 



42 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

His paralysis affected his raind to some extent, and 
made his reading imperfect, although his thoughts 
were usually solid and often sparkling. 

Vethake taught mathematics, astronomy and 
chemistry. Spence taught Greek, and McClellan 
metaphysics. He was an eccentric genius, and 
many humorous stories were told about him. He 
was careless about his personal appearance, and 
slovenly in his dress, and rather indifferent about 
the common courtesies of life ; but he had a kind 
disposition, and was indulgent toward his pupils. 
One night he was present at an exhibition of nitrous 
oxide gas in the court house, got up by two strolling 
Yankees. I took the gas and immediately began 
spouting Shakespeare vociferously. Next day on 
entering the class-room I stumbled and nearly fell. 
McClellan was in his chair, and exclaimed, ** Morris, 
still under the influence of gas?" He seldom 
preached, although everybody was delighted in 
hearing him, and I believe that was the reason he 
rarely gratified them. The following story is told 
of him : One Sunday morning he was on his way on 
horseback to a country church, where he had been 
announced to preach. Some people, not knowing 
him, overtook him, and after riding together for 
some time he asked where they were going. ** We 
are going to hear Prof. McClellan, of Carlisle, 
preach; he's a mighty preacher, and we advise you 
to go with us. " Instead of fulfilling the appoint- 
ment, he turned his horse's head towards town, and 
did not go to preach. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 43 

"We were allowed many more privileges than at 
Princeton, and the effect was salutary. 

Dr. Mason was an enthusiastic admirer of Alex- 
ander Hamilton, and ministered to him after he was 
shot by Burr. He would take every occasion to 
bring Hamilton into his lectures, and once, where 
Horace says of some one, ** Idem extinctus ama- 
bitur, ' ' he applied these words to his favorite with 
deep emotion, and even with tears. 

He would sometimes stop in the campus and look 
at us playing foot-ball, and once said, ' ' Ah, young 
men, I wish I could play w^th you!" We all 
revered the feeble old man, even if we did some- 
times laugh at his foibles. 

The Kev. Benjamin Keller was at that time pas- 
tor of the Lutheran church, whose service I often 
attended when he preached English. Little did I 
then expect that before many years I would become 
intimately associated with him in church work, as I 
afterwards was. Although he was not what was 
called a strong man, yet he was what is better, a 
good man, and had the esteem of everybody. He 
did much better service in the church than many a 
man more gifted and more learned, and has left a 
name fragrant with memories of the most pleasing 
character. It was in Mr. Keller's church where I 
first heard the Rev. B. Kurtz preach, with whom in 
after years I became so closely connected. I had 
once seen him before at my mother's house during 
a Synod at York when I was a boy. I was too 



44 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

young for him to notice me, for I was 1 1 and he was 
24 years of age. In subsequent years we became 
co-workers in many church projects. He acquired 
a wide influence in the church, and in many respects 
he was a strong man. 

As far back as I can remember, I had what may 
be called the religious sentiment deeply implanted 
in me. My mother's teaching, prayers and example 
impressed me strongly, and even in the gayety of 
youthful life God was not altogether absent from my 
mind. I was a conscientious church-goer all my 
life, but I never until this time made what is eccle- 
siastically called a profession of religion. 

It was at Dickinson that my mind was fully made 
up to be a practical Christian, but it would not be 
important to say what were my previous exercises 
of mind before I came to the final decision. A con- 
siderable number of students took the same position. 
The lamented death of James Mason, a son of the 
President, who had graduated somewhere else, but 
who was now living with his father, had a powerftil 
influence on our minds, and to that melancholy 
event was traced the deep religious interest that 
ensued. He was a young man, highly esteemed, 
although few of us knew him personally. We all 
attended his funeral, and as some of us were caiT34ng 
the coffin out of the house the deeply afflicted father 
uttered, in a deep, sepulchral tone, " Tread softly, 
young men, tread softly, for you bear the body of the 
Holy Ghost!" It was like a voice from the tomb, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 45 

and the effect was most impressive. I have often 
referred to this incident and quoted these words at 
the funeral of young men. Among the men whose 
attention was specially turned to practical religion 
on this occasion, and who united with the Episcopal 
church, was Samuel R. McCrosky, who afterwards 
became Bishop of Michigan, and who, after serving 
in that office many years, resigned it, and retired 
under a cloud. 

We students held prayer-meetings in college, and 
most of us there made our maiden effort in leading 
in public prayer. 

I joined the Belles-Lettres Society in college, and 
in fact re-organized it, for it had fallen into deep 
decay. I wrote an installation address to the can- 
didates when admitted, but I do not know whether 
it has been retained. 

It was at Carlisle that I began my career as a 
newspaper scribbler, which I have rather vigorously 
kept up ever since. I think it was in the Carlisle 
Volunteer that my maiden piece appeared, and it was 
upon the momentous theme of " The Time Lost in 
Visiting the Ladies!" When I saw my first contri- 
bution in print, I felt much bigger than on any sub- 
sequent like occasion. 

On the occasion of some public exhibition of the 
college, I forget what, I made a speech upon a sub- 
ject then agitating the public mind ; I think it was 
the invasion of Spain by the French. I depicted the 
glories of ancient Spain in such rainbow colors, and 



46 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

SO vehemently abused Napoleon, that some intem- 
perate fellow in town, who was captain of a militia 
company, was so fired with military ardor and other 
exciting agencies, that he declared that if there were 
not a few objections in the way he would march his 
company to the relief of Spain, and drive the in- 
famous invader from the country. Next morning 
his ambition was cooled off! 

My gi'aduation speech was en The Feudal S3^stem, 
a dull, dry subject, which I did not understand, and for 
which I got no credit, for it was a very stupid affair. 

The academic gown was not worn at Dickinson as 
at Princeton, but what struck me as queer was that 
when Dr. Mason rose to confer on the class the de- 
gree of A. B. he put on his hat, and removed it as 
soon as the ceremony was over. Upon mentioning 
this fact to some one, he remarked that English 
judges when they sentenced a criminal to death al- 
ways put on a black cap, and he mischievously ob- 
served that there might be some analogy between 
the two cases. 

After graduation I went home ; and now came the 
struggle. I had not fully decided to study for the 
ministry, and my conflict of mind was painful. I 
need not here give the details, but I finally deter- 
mined for the pulpit, and then my mind was at rest. 

There was nothing supernatural or even extra- 
ordinary in the circumstances of this, my " call to 
the ministry. ' ' I thought that I had the religious 
qualifications — that is, I was a sincere believer, and 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 47 

wished to do good in the best way I could. I was 
in perfect health and of vigorous constitution. 1 
had some of the attributes of a good speaker, and I 
thought that by culture I might make a fair 
preacher. I had means of my own, so that I need 
not be a burden on the Church; my brother was 
very anxious that I should study for the ministry, 
but neither he nor my mother ever urged it upon 
me. The Lutheran Church had less than 300 minis- 
ters at that time, and her sphere of activity was con- 
stantly enlarging, whilst the ministry was not m^ul- 
tiplying in proportion. Providence had cast my lot 
within her limits, and I concluded that this was the 
field for me to work in, and I entered. This is the 
only ' * call to the ministry ' ' I knov/ anything of. 
The Church, needed my services, I thought, and I 
cheerfully offered them. I regarded her need as 
equivalent to a call from her, and hence I concluded 
it was the divine will. The way to success in sev- 
eral other pursuits was open to me, but I was led 
into this way, and herein I continue, cheerful and 
contented, and perhaps to some extent useful. 

From that time I gave myself entirely to the work, 
and made preparations accordingly. The question 
was, where should I study theology? There was no 
Lutheran Seminary, and my brother and I concluded 
it was not best, for the present at least, to go to 
Princeton. He wrote to Dr. Demme, of Philadel- 
phia, and requested him to take me as a private 
pupil, and especially to learn German, which was at 



48 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

that time considered indispensable for a Lutheran 
minister, and should always be. But Dr. Demme 
declined, and we looked around. It was finally de- 
termined that I should go all the way to New Market, 
Shenandoah county, Va., where S. S. Schmucker 
was pastor, who made known his willingness to re- 
ceive students as a sort of preparatory school for the 
seminary which he and a few others were meditating 
at that time. Here I was, fresh from college, and 
with a pretty fair education as it was considered in 
those days, but I was utterly unfit for any sort of 
business which required tact, calculation or atten- 
tion. An errand boy in a country store had more 
knowledge of keeping accounts and managing things 
in general than I, with all my Greek and Latin. I 
have painfully felt this deficiency all through life, 
and just here there is a defect in our training, I 
have discovered that those of our ministers who had 
served in stores or any other secular business before 
they entered the ministry were always the best bus- 
iness men in Synod. They alone were competent 
to examine accounts, adjust mileage, disentangle 
knotty skeins, and give good advice on pecuniary 
matters. How much better it would be if every 
minister had a year's schooling in a commercial 
college, a bank or counting house. It would pre- 
vent many a stupid blunder in after life. 

Mr. Schmucker was to be at Frederick shortly, in 
attendance on the General Synod, whither I went to 
meet him and to make arrangements, which I did. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 49 

He had prepared me for college, and he was now to 
become, for a while at least, my theological tutor. 
I was taught the orthodox system of faith from my 
earliest youth, and never was tempted to accept any 
other. I never had any difficulties of that character 
to encounter. It was my mother's faith, and I ob- 
served its sanctifying influences in her godly life, 
and that was enough for me. The peculiarities of 
the Lutheran faith, especially on the sacraments, 
were not taught me when I was young, and when I 
first came under the influence of teachers in later 
years I was led to the opposite direction, and I said 
and wrote and printed some things which I have re- 
gretted a thousand times. But I have changed my 
mind ; it was a slow and gradual change, and per- 
haps on that account the more wise, and certainly 
the more permanent, and I am glad to witness so 
many evidences o£ a similar wholesome change in 
many of our ministers. 

The first clear oral illustration of the Lutheran 
doctrine of the Lord's Supper was given to me by 
the Rev. Dr. J. G. Schmucker, of York, Pa. This 
was, I think, before I became a theological pupil of 
his son, who was trained by his father in the same 
faith, and vigorously maintained it in what is called 
the first edition of his translation of Storr and Flatt's 
Theology, but he afterwards abandoned it, and 
adopted the New England Zwinglian views. His 
teaching gradually brought me over to his opinions, 
for I was not well established in true Lutheranism ; 
4 



50 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

but when I became free from his influence, and pU-r- 
sued independent research, I settled down in the 
true faith. This is the case with many others who 
were students in the seminary when Dr. S. S. 
Schmucker was theological professor. He himself 
became aware of this departure from his teachings 
before he died, and it grieved him exceedingly. He 
had done much towards securing the support, and 
perhaps also procuring parishes for some of these 
men, and he thought it hard that they should re- 
pudiate his instructions. Two of his three sons who 
entered the ministry became decided Lutherans of 
the straitest sort; his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. 
C. F. Schaeifer, was all his lifetime a staunch de- 
fender of the true faith ; two of his sons-in-law, the 
Rev. A. Geissenhainer and the Rev. Dr. B. Sadtler, 
were equally devoted to it ; some of his pupils, such 
as the Rev. Dr. Ziegler, Reuben Weiser, and all of 
those in connection with the Synod of Pennsylvania, 
as well as some others, subsequently repudiated the 
teaching of their professor on the subject of the sac- 
raments. 

Mr. Schmucker undoubtedly rendered great serv- 
ice to the Church in her struggles during the earlier 
period of his life. He had numerous followers, but 
they did not all adhere to him. He exercised a 
commanding influence in those days, and was easily 
regarded as the first man in the General Synod. He 
was the founder of the Seminary and College at Get- 
tysburg, and of other auxiliaries to the benefit of 
the Church. 



CHAPTER III. 

STUDENT WFK AT NEW MARKET, VA.— NAZARETH, PA., AND 

PRINCETON SEMINARY, 1823-1825— THE GENERAI^ SYNOD 

AT FREDERICK, MD., IN 1825. 

Behold me now installed in a straggling obscure 
Shenandoah county village of 400 inhabitants, who 
were exceedingly plain and uncultivated for the 
most part, but the majority were good specimens of 
American German thrift and frugality. There was 
no trade except that furnished by two small stores. 
The surplus farm products were conveyed to Fred- 
ericksburg or Alexandria in cumbrous wagons. 
There was one school, two or three physicians, and 
there was no use for a lawyer. There were no beg- 
gars, and few flagrant crimes were committed by 
the white inhabitants. The slaves were generally 
well treated by their masters, who were of German 
descent. There were several families in the hamlet 
and several in the neighborhood of a culture ad- 
vanced beyond that of the majority. They were all 
hospitable and kind. There was little of what was 
even then called v/ealth. The state of public mor- 
ality was far above that of many other villages in 
Virginia where the German element did not prevail. 
There were few cases of gross, habitual intemper- 

(50 



52 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ance, and I do not remember a single arrest for a 
gross crime during my residence of twenty months. 

The church was in a low condition before Mr. 
Schmucker took charge of it, a few years previous 
to my going there. The preaching had been exclu- 
sively German by the former pastor at least, and the 
service had not been frequent. The settlement of 
the young minister was quite an event in the vicinity. 
He was the only really educated pastor for 25 miles 
around ; his style of preaching was so fresh and in- 
teresting; he was so gentlemanly and neat in his 
appearance and withal so good-looking, and unmar- 
ried besides, that he attracted general attention. 
The parish consisted of several other small congre- 
gations, so that there was service only twice a month 
in the village church. 

There was a Methodist church, which had not 
then arrived at perfect sanctification, and an old- 
school, hard-shell, iron-clad Baptist conventicle, 
which had not had all its actual sins washed away 
by immersion. It was served occasionally by an 
honest old farmer named Hershberger, whose Eng- 
lish was not of the purest classic, either in accent, 
pronunciation, emphasis or grammar. Immersion 
and predestination, neither of which he understood, 
were his unvarying themes. 

There was a settlement of Tunkers in the neigh- 
borhood, the principal preacher of whom was a good 
old inan named Keagy. He was universally re- 
spected for his blameless lire, but he had not studied 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 53 

theolog-}'. I occasionally went to their meetings in 
the country, and whenever Father Keagy led the 
worship he would sing a long metre tune to a com- 
mon metre hymn, or vice versa, and the style of the 
music may be imagined. Whenever he preached 
English he always introduced Nathan's parable of 
the ewe lamb, but the good old man's interpretation 
was original and queer. He took the word ewe for 
the popular diminutive e-wee, and absolutely thought 
that Nathan was speaking of an e-wee, little bit of a 
lamb ! ! And yet nobody silently laughed but my- 
self. I presume most of them thought it was all 
right. 

This is the original home of the Henkel family, 
whose name has figured in the church for many 
years. Old Paul Henkel, the patriarch of the family, 
was living when I went there, but died a few months 
afterwards. He was a venerable old gentleman, 
and had done some good missionary work in the 
earlier part of this century in Virginia and North 
Carolina. He had not, for many years, attended 
the old Pennsylvania Synod, of which he had long 
been a member, and became specially estranged 
when the Eastern Synods joined the General Synod, 
which he regarded as a sort of antichrist. Four or 
five of his sons were ministers, but I never saw any 
of them (the preachers) except Ambrose, who lived 
at NcAV ^larket, and Charles, whom I met afterwards 
at Germantown, Ohio. There was a great deal of 
energy, and some talent, in the family. They kept 



54 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

themselves aloof from the Eastern Synods, and were 
the originators of what was called the Tennessee 
Synod, and maintained that they were the only gen- 
uine Lutherans in the country. I am speaking of 
seventy years ago. Since that time some memhers 
of the Henkel family have become very useful men 
in the Church, and have contributed a good deal to 
its theology and literature by the printing of useful 
books. There are several laymen of that household 
who have become influential men, and are patrons 
of higher education and of progress. Several of 
them have become eminent physicians and men of 
great worth. Some years ago some members of 
that family published, at their own venture, an Eng- 
lish translation of the Book of Concord. The Church 
was hardly ready for it, but the enterprise showed 
commendable zeal in the good cause. It was not 
well translated, but still' creditable for that day and 
for the men who executed it. I presume that Prof. 
Jacobs' new translation will entirely supersede it, 
but still let all honor be given to the Henkels for 
their pluck and energy. 

About the year 1877 several of the surviving mem- 
bers of the family, on their own responsibility, began 
the publication of a weekly religious journal called 
' ' Our Church Paper, ' ' which has sustained itself to 
the present day. 

I had never before lived in a place where there 
was no first-class school, no reading room, no news- 
paper printed, no debating society, no band of music, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 



55 



no musical parties, no picnics or excursions, no pub- 
lic lectures, not even a show or exhibition of jug- 
glers. 

It was a strange transition for me, who was fresh 
from the refined society of Carlisle, to be thrown 
among these people, and yet I by no means underes- 
timated their worthiness. Providence led me there, 
and perhaps I learned practical lessons of life which 
have been of service ever since. 

Mr. Schmucker was a widower at that time, and 
had much leisure. He was a laborious student, and 
was engaged in translating Storr and Flatt's Theol- 
ogy, which was published at AndoA^er. He was often 
absent for four or five weeks, during which I read 
such books as he gave me, but without order or sys- 
tem and perhaps much profit. 

My fellow students were John P. Cline and George 
Schmucker, both of that county; Samuel K. Hosh- 
our, of York county, Pa. ; Wm. Keil, an honest, 
uncouth German, and John Reck. Cline was a man 
of good common sense. He had learned the carpen- 
ter trade^ and was a robust, large-framed man. He 
and George Schmucker had never been out of Shen- 
andoah county, and knev^ little of the outside world. 
They still cherished many of the prejudices and 
errors of the people among whom they had been 
brought up. They believed in ghosts, omens, 
dreams, and witchcraft, but gave up these silly 
notions as they advanced in intelligence. 

Cline became a very useful minister, and served 



56 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

churches in Maryland and Virginia, and died after 
more than thirty years of successful work. He left 
a large family not unprovided for, and one of his 
sons is in our ministry. He was a man of solid 
character and blameless living. John Reck was a 
brother of that most excellent of men, Abraham 
Reck. He was faithful in his work, and died in 
Ohio some time afterwards. He was the oldest of 
us except Keil, and of more religious experience. 
He had been reading with his brother at Winchester, 
and had also preached. He came to us under the 
influence of some feelings and opinions, which he 
abandoned before long. George Schmucker was the 
son of the Rev. Nicolas Schmucker, of Shenandoah 
county, and a cousin of our teacher. He had no 
education when he joined us, and was exceedingly 
rustic, but he had some brains and imiproved fast. 
He died in 1886 in southeast Virginia, and belonged 
to a small Synod of very staunch Lutherans. A son 
of his is in our ministry in Ohio. Samuel Hoshour 
was from York county. Pa., and had studied some 
Latin and Greek. He was not destitute of talent, 
and was an earnest Christian man. He was subject 
to severe attacks of hypochondria, and would some- 
times alarm us and the neighborhood by his excla- 
mations of anguish and fear. After serving several 
parishes he joined the Campbellites, was rebaptized, 
went to Indiana, was elected professor in one of 
their schools, and became quite a great man among 
them. He died in December, 1883. Keil was a 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 57 

German oddity. I judge he was nearly forty years 
of age when he joined us — sincere, rather intelli- 
gent, by turns good-natured and violent in his tem- 
per. He made good progress, for he was incessantly 
at his books, and always ready for an argument. 
He died in northwest Pennsylvania. 

I have thought it well to give these faint sketches 
of men who, seventy years ago, prepared for the 
Church in such a group as this. 

After some months of study Mr. Schmucker al- 
lowed us to preach in the country school-houses, and 
I regard it as a useful discipline for sober-minded 
students. We held Sunday-School, and once had as 
many as 85 scholars. We also had prayer-meetings 
in the old log church and in private houses, and we 
had some curious experiences with a few women who 
we thought were ' ' under conviction. ' ' We prac- 
ticed the old "pray on, sister," system, and were 
real Methodists as far as that went, and with the 
same unstable results. 

These untrained young men were, of course, 
obliged to learn the elements of higher education, 
and our teacher, to save time, I suppose, by not 
having more than one class, put us all together; 
and here was I, with my college diploma in my 
pocket and graduated with honor, absolutely reciting 
Greek grammar and the elements of natural philos- 
ophy and other primary school studies with young 
men who did not know the letters of the Greek 
alphabet nor the first principles of any science ! I 



58 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

was often indignant, and the reminiscence is painful 
to this day. I once alluded to it in a meeting of the 
Seminary Directors years afterwards. The professor 
evidently understood my allusion, but made no reply. 

On one occasion when I was speaking in a prayer- 
meeting a woman fainted, which, of course, occa- 
sioned some disturbance, and our Methodist friends 
said that there was now evidence that there was 
some life in the church, for a woman had fainted 
under the preaching!!! But when shortly after I 
stopped in the middle of a prayer because I was 
dreadfully annoyed by the holy groaning of a Meth- 
odist brother, they changed their minds, and de- 
nounced us as cold and dead ! ! ! 

It was at a Sunday afternoon Methodist meeting 
where I first saw old Paul Henkel, whom I was sur- 
prised to see there, and who was seated, by way of 
honor, ' ' in the altar, ' ' as they called it. A Boanerges 
named Reily, of gigantic stature and build, and with 
lungs corresponding, declaimed. It was like the 
' ' voice of many waters ' ' tumultuously rolling over 
rocks on the seashore; he yelled and screamed to 
about a hundred of us as if he were addressing five 
thousand at a camp-meeting. The effect upon Mr. 
Henkel 's nerves v/as singular and ludicrous. He 
writhed in his chair as if sitting on hot coals; his 
countenance was distorted into shapes the most ab- 
surd; he seemed at one time to be laughing, and 
then again crying, and appeared to suffer an agony 
unspeakably severe. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 59 

During a portion of the time spent here I con- 
ducted a Latin correspondence with an old Princeton 
friend named Buzzard, originally from Georgetown, 
D. C. He afterwards moved to Ohio, and changed 
his name to Franklin. He was a mathematical 
genius, and I believe was an engineer in Ohio. 
Thirty-five years after this, when I w^as in the Pea- 
body Institute, a young man and young lady came 
in and introduced themselves as his children, they 
having called at his particular request. It v/as grat- 
ifying to be thus remembered by an old college 
friend. His son was an Episcopal student of divin- 
ity, and the daughter was soon afterwards married. 

I wrote several sermons for one of our boys, and 
also a love letter, which I was happy to learn re- 
sulted in a complete reconciliation, for he and his 
lady friend had quarreled; but they were never 
married. 

At that time in Virginia every able-bodied man 
was obliged to turn out and work one day upon the 
public highway, or get a substitute. We all turned 
out, I for the fun of it, and worked some hours in 
loading carts and digging dirt. If I had hired a 
substitute, I would have been denounced as proud 
and having no religion. I made a holiday of it, but 
I can now say that for one day I was a highwayman 
in Virginia ! ! ! 

I should have said that during the twenty months 
I stayed at New Market I read a good deal in Bud- 
daeus and HoUaz, went through Prideaux, Camp- 



6o LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

bell's Gospels, Home's Introduction, Raid's Philoso- 
phy, Mosheim's Church History, Bible History, 
Jahn's Archaeology, and some others not remem- 
bered, besides writing frequent compositions, essays, 
skeletons, etc., etc. Our teacher gave us a short 
course of lectures, of which we took notes, and all 
this in addition to the Greek grammar and elements 
of natural philosophy aforesaid. He had studied for 
some time at Princeton Seminary, and introduced 
among us, his pupils, some practices prevalent in 
that school. One of them was the observance of the 
first Wednesday of every month as a day for special 
prayer and meditation. All study was laid aside, 
and it was a sort of half sacred, holy day, which was, 
however, not observed by himself, nor by us to any 
special profit. I looked upon it as a piece of affected 
Puritanism, and paid no regard to it. 

On going to Princeton Seminary afterwards I 
found the custom in vogue. The Book says, " Six 
days shalt thou labor, ' ' but these people say, ' ' No, 
that is not right; five days shalt thou labor in one of 
the weeks of the month, and in that week thou shalt 
have two Sabbaths." For years I could not shake 
off the unscriptural feeling that the first Wednesday 
of the month had a sort of sanctity attached to it. I 
think we had better be satisfied with divine ordi- 
nances, and let human inventions alone. 

I do not think it was ever introduced at Gettys- 
burg by the same professor. 

At New Market game was plenty. Even bears 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 6 1 

and deer were shot in the neighboring mountains ; 
squirrels, quail and pheasants abounded within a 
mile of our house, but I presume things have 
changed since the increase of population and the 
introduction of the railroad. But strange to say I 
never saw a fishing-rod, or anybody using one in the 
Shenandoah. 

Our teacher once showed us a Review of Buck- 
land's " Reliquiae Diluvianise; " which had lately 
come out, and created an immense sensation, and 
as late as July, 1880, I wrote a little article for the 
Observer, of which the following is an extract. One 
of the young Henkels had sent me a pamphlet de- 
scribing a cave, which gave occasion to it: 

" I was a boy resident of New Market when Buckland's Reli- 
quiae Diluviauiae first appeared. This was many years ago ; but 
having read a review of that book, I was fired with an enthusi- 
asm for cave exploration and the collection cf what we then 
considered antediluvian remains, and certain evidences of the 
Noachic deluge. That idea is long since exploded — not that of 
the deluge, but that cave bones afford any proof of it. Well, 
several other stout young fellows and I were told of a cave sev- 
eral miles south of the village, and, arming ourselves with pick- 
axe and shovel, we started one Saturday afternoon on a scientific 
tour — and we knew about as much of science as we did of the 
Telugu language. But we entered and digged, and collected a 
pile of bones, but whether the}^ were human, or reptilian, or 
bovine, or lupine, or asinine, we did not know ; but we were 
desperately fatigued. We did not proceed ven,- far, for we were 
afraid that some spiteful gnome or Shenandoah county spook 
(for they were believed in at that time) might rush out upon us 
from some Tartarean crevice, for so ruthlessly invading his sub- 
terranean dominion." 



62 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

In the summer of 1882, more than fifty years after 
my residence in New Market, I visited it upon the 
invitation of a society connected with the Polytech- 
nic School to deliver an oration. I was kindly re- 
ceived by everybody; I visited the old graveyard 
and the old house in which I studied, and various 
other places of interest in the vicinity, among them 
the cave, a few miles distant. I met several children 
of my old fellow- student, John P. Cline, who died 
some years ago. The town has made some improve- 
ments. We have two churches entirely English, 
and there are good schools, and several newspapers 
are published by the Henkels. 

The following little incident might as well be men- 
tioned m connection with my New Market career. 
It is one of many: 

A young man of the village asked me to be his 
groomsman. We rode in company to Woodstock, 
the county seat, to get the marriage license. The 
clerk of the court required him to prove that he was 
21 years of age. What was to be done? We were 
twenty miles from home, and the wedding was to 
take place rext day. We were in a quandary. He 
at length thought of some old woman who was ac- 
quainted with his family, and he hastened to her for 
relief. She said she was willing to swear that his 
sister, younger than himself, was 22, but she would 
not swear that he was 21!!! I do not remember 
how it was arranged, but, at any rate, we got the 
license. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 6^ 

During a vacation at New Market I visited the 
Natural Bridge, and stopped one night at Lexing- 
ton, at the house of Col. McClung, who kept the 
hotel. Dr. Alexander and his wife were on a visit 
there, for the Colonel was his brother-in-law. I 
introduced myself to the Doctor, observing that I 
had often heard him preach at Princeton when I was 
a student at Nassau Hall. He was very cordial, and 
expressed his gratification that I was studying theol- 
ogy with one of his former pupils, S. S. Schmucker. 
He made many inquiries concerning our Church. 

That part of Virginia had been the field of his 
early labors in the ministry, where he was a popular 
young man. He told me many interesting incidents 
of his youthful career, and among others the follow- 
ing: He said he was once preaching in that neigh- 
borhood, and all of a sudden he came to a dead stop. 
He had lost his thread of argument, and did not re- 
cover it for about thirty seconds. There was an 
awful silence in the congregation, for apparently a 
deep impression had been made. Every eye was 
intently fixed upon him, and with almost breathless 
interest they waited for what was to come. He him- 
self was confused almost to fainting, but he pro- 
ceeded to talk in a bungling way, until he completely 
recovered his usual tranquillity. After service the 
most influential and intelligent gentleman present. 

Col. , approached him and congratulated him 

warmly, exclaiming, ' ' Capital ! wonderful ! I never 
heard it so well done before! Just at the proper 



64 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

time — just long enough! What a deep impression 
it made ! Wonderful ! ' ' Mr. A. inquired, ' ' Why, 
Colonel, what do you mean?" " Why, sir," he re- 
plied, ' ' that pause, sir, that pause 1 Never heard it 
so well done ! Really, Mr. A. , I did not know you 
had that much rhetorical art!" I do not know 
whether he informed the Colonel that the pause, 
which was so impressive to him and others, was a 
blundering act of forgetfulness, but he told the 
story to me with great glee. When I became a 
pupil of Dr. Alexander, several years afterwards at 
Princeton, I remember him telling the class, in his 
homiletical lectures, that if we should * * lose the 
thread of our discourse, ' ' not to stop, but talk right 
on at random, for we would soon recover, and few 
people would observe the blunder. He did not, 
however, tell us the anecdote above. 

A singular case of kleptomania was developed just 
at that time in that vicinity, which was talked of by 
everybody, and made a great noise. I would not 
speak of it, but it concerned an old classmate of 
mine, who was a Presbyterian minister in that 
county. His young and highly accomplished wife 
took an5^thing she could lay her hands upon, how- 
ever trifling. Even while singing pious hymns at 
the bedside of the sick, she would take thim^bles, 
needles, napkins, medicine spoons, and everything 
which she could conveniently hide. A terrible mal- 
ady — for such it really is. I have knpwn several 
cases of this infirmity, and I suppose they are very 
hard to cure. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 65 

In 1825 our teacher married his second wife, and, 
having been previously elected professor in the 
Theological Seminary that was to be opened some 
months afterwards in Gettysburg, he never returned 
to New Market to live, but staid with his father-in- 
law, seven miles east of the village. Hoshour and I 
were the only students left, and the teacher would 
occasionally come to town to hear us recite, after a 
fashion. I do not remember why I did not leave 
before, but I presume it was vacation time at other 
Seminaries, and I thought I might as well spend a 
few months there as anywhere else. I am certain it 
was not for the benefit of the teaching. 

He resigned his place as pastor, and Hoshour was 
chosen in his place, and accepted it. He was anx- 
ious to visit his friends in York county. Pa., before 
he began his pastoral work, and he and I bought 
a horse, and we traveled to York, "ride and tie," 
as it was called. One of us was to ride six miles 
ahead while the other walked, and would find the 
horse at a designated place, but usually we kept 
in company. My luggage had been sent ahead by 
stage. 

Thus endeth the chapter of my career at New 
Market. 

STUDENT LIFE AT NAZARETH. 

The question again was. What is now to be done? 

Our own Seminary was not opened, and I did not 

care about going to Princeton just then, and I would 

not listen to several propositions that were made to 

5 



66 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

me from other quarters to settle as a pastor. Upon 
consideration it was resolved tliat I should spend the 
winter among the Moravians, studying German and 
Hebrew. I thought that a pure German was spoken 
by them, and probably nothing else, and that surely 
one of their men would teach me Hebrev/. 

I took letters from the Moravian minister at York, 
named Leffler, and proceeded to Lititz; but they 
would not take me as a pupil, and advised me to go 
to Bethlehem. I went to Bethlehem, and had no 
better success; thence to Nazareth, where I was re- 
ceived. A young man named Shulze, who has since 
become a bishop,* agreed to teach me Hebrew, and 
I expected to learn German more from conversation 
than from books; but I found that English was 
almost exclusively spoken by the divinity students, 
and I, of course, learned little more than I knew. 

My mother, who had a most exalted idea of Mo- 
ravian piety, inspired me with the same sentiment, 
and I went among them with the expectation that I 
would there be about as near heaven as any place on 
earth. From report I was led in advance to admire 
the simplicity of their manners, the uprightness of 
their lives, and their missionary zeal, but I found 
they were people of like passions with others. They 
were trained to regard themselves as foreign mis- 
sionaries whenever and wherever the church re- 
quired their services. There was no question, 
•' Shall I go? Does the Lord want me among the 

"^ Died in 1885, aged 80 years. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 67 

heathen?" but every one felt himself already called 
to the work, and only waited for Providence, through 
the church, to designate the field. One day word 
came that a missionary was wanted in Rarbadoes, 
in the place of one who had died. The lot fell upon 
^,Ir. Zorn, who immediately set to work, and was 
ready in less than two hours. But Brother Zorn was 
a single man, and at that time they did not send out 
unmarried men. Brother Zorn was not engaged, 
and had no preference — perhaps had never visited 
any lady. The church soon settled that matter, and, 
by lot it was declared to be the Lord's will that 
Sister Elizabeth, at Bethlehem, should be Brother 
Zorn's wife, whom he had probably never seen. 
They were married, and went. 

\Yhile I did not find the heaven on earth I so ar- 
dently expected, I spent a very happy and profitable 
winter among them, and still cherish pleasing re- 
membrances, of that remarkable people. In those 
days none but Moravians lived in Nazareth and 
Bethlehem, and perhaps in Emmaus ; but at present, 
and for some years past, they have sold lots and 
houses to people of other churches, and the distinct- 
ive and exclusive Moravianism of these places no 
longer prevails. We have several churches there, 
and several of our ministers live there. 

It was in January, 1825, that I went to Nazareth, 
and remained there several months. Mr. Shulze 
came to my room in the hotel where I boarded, and 
heard my lessons. I became acquainted with no 



6S LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

persons except the divinity students, and some of 
the teachers, and a few retired old ministers. The 
students were a cheerful set of young" men, whose 
manners and habits were very different from what 
I had been led to expect, and which would have 
given great offence to many persons. My training 
was of a contrary character, and perhaps not more 
consistent with the Christian profession. Their ob- 
servance of the Lord's Day was very different from 
what I had been taught, but I would not say that 
my teaching was more Scriptural. None of these 
young men visited young ladies, in which recreation 
so many theological students of other schools lose so 
much time, and, some of them at least, are beguiled 
into premature and injudicious matrimonial engage- 
ments, or what is worse, into the violation of previ- 
ous ones. A sad history might be written on this 
subject. These Nazareth young divinities could not 
become engaged, for they saw no young ladies, and 
besides, as the church arranged such affairs, they had 
nothing actively to do with it. Hence, there was no 
precious time lost in writing frequent letters of 
doubtful propriety, no money spent for presents 
which should have been laid out in books, no dress- 
ing beyond their ability to pay, and no extrava- 
gant patronizing of confectioners' shops. I wonder 
whether some of our young men, who have hurried 
into such tender alliances, have not wished that the 
church had had the arrangement of such matters, at 
least as far as their case was concerned. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 69 

I never ascertained what was their curriculum of 
theological study, never having been invited into the 
lecture room, and seeing no programme. They were 
very orthodox, and recognized the Augsburg Confes- 
sion as their Creed. Their own ecclesiastical history 
is interesting ; the labors of Zinzendorf in this coun- 
try were abundant and successful, although our own 
earlier missionaries contemporary with him here do 
not always speak most favorably of him (see Hall- 
ische Nachrichten) ; but perhaps this may have arisen 
from jealousy, and supposed interference with their 
work. 

When I was at New Market I read 1 1 ecken welder's 
book on his labors among the North American In- 
dians in Pennsylvania, which interested me exceed- 
ingly. I conceived a romantic admiration of him and 
his fellow-workmen. One day when I was straying 
through the beautiful graveyard, I saw the name of 
Zeisberger upon a tomb-stone, and i^t was the grave 
of the veritable man whom I revered for his mis- 
sionary zeal. 

Whenever there v/as a death in the congregation 
it was announced from the steeple by a dirge from 
the band, and on festivals. New Year or Easter, 
there were solemn religious services held in the 
cemetery, with instrumental music; and yet this 
people, with all their purity of life, their self-denying 
misssionary activity, their unaffected piety, would 
not be regarded as good Christians by some because 
they did not practice a puritanic observance of what 
is called the Sabbath, instead of the Lord's Day. 



70 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I laid a pretty g-oocl fonndation of Hebrew, but I 
made no progress in German, for I seldom heard 
anything but English spoken except from the old 
people, and I saw few of them. The public service 
and worship were in German. 

I left them with regret, having conceived a very 
exalted idea of their purity of life and Christian zeal. 

THE GENERAL SYNOD AT FREDERICK, MD. , IN 1825. 

I was a looker-on at the meeting of the General 
Synod at Frederick, in 1825, at which only three 
Synods were represented, — ]^.Iaryland and Virginia, 
united in one at that time. West Pennsylvania and 
North Carolina; and there were only eight clerical 
members ! Times are changed, and we with them ! ! 

At this meeting the Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, at that 
time pastor at Hagerstown, Md., was appointed to 
go to Europe to collect funds for the Theological 
Seminary which was to be established. He went, 
and never was any work more laboriously and con- 
scientiously performed than this mission. He was 
absent two years and brought home about $12,000 in 
money, collected with great difficulty, and a large 
number o£ books, many of which were of no value, 
and now encumber the shelves of the Seminary 
library ; but Mr. Kurtz was in duty bound to accept 
everything offered to him. The history of this mis- 
sion is interesting, and will be found in the early 
volumes of the Lutheran Intelligencer^ in my * ' Fifty 
Years, ' ' and in my History of the Seminary, in the 
Evangelical Review, 1876. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 7 1 

Rev. B. Kurtz stated to Synod that a certain Mr. 
Rowles, a Yankee schoolmaster, in Hagerstown, who 
had wormed himself into the good graces of Rev. 
K., proposed to w^rite a history of the Lutheran 
Church in the United States. He could not read 
nor speak a word of German; he was not reared 
among our people, and was an entire stranger to our 
theology, church polity, and ever}i:hing else that a 
historian should know. Mr. Kurtz injudiciously en- 
couraged the man in his presumptuous purpose, and 
urged the Synod to do the same; but Mr. S. S. 
Schmucker, more keen-sighted and intelligent on 
this subject, and aware of the utter incompetency of 
the man for the work, quietly and adroitly got rid of 
the whole affair, and without offending Mr. Kurtz, 
by offering the sensible resolution that Mr. Rowles 
be requested to spend several years in collecting 
materials for his history! ! ! This was the last of it. 

I remained until after the meeting of the Synod, 
when Mr. Schaeffer, the pastor, requested me to 
preach. I now occasionally meet a rather oldish 
gentleman who reminds me of that sermon of over 
60 years ago. He says my text was, " Woe unto 
them that are at ease in Zion. " He remembers 
more about it than I did, or cared about doing 
myself. 

After I had preached this sermon somewhere — I 
will not say w^here — the pastor rose and flattered his 
people by the assurance that the sermon just 
preached could not be applied to them, for every- 



72 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

body knew they were not * ' asleep in Zion, ' ' but 
wide awake, and then he proceeded to enumerate 
their Christian virtues and convinced them that they 
were the best people in all the country round. It 
was easy to convince them of that, and no wonder 
their minister was a very popular man. A few years 
after, our Synod met in the same church, and when, 
at the preparatory service, I made some common- 
place remarks on the questions, What am I ? What 
am I doing? Whither am I going? the pastor rose 
and answered my questions for his people by saying 
that they were a very good people, doing their duty, 
and were fast on their way to heaven!!! Blessed 
people ! Happy pastor ! 

STUDENT LIFE AT PRINCETON SEMINARY, 1825-1826. 

I left Nazareth in the Spring of 1825, and a short 
time after proceeded to Princeton, but I could not 
be admitted because I had neglected to take a cer- 
tificate of church membership with me. This was 
indispensable. I immediately wrote to York and the 
Rev. J. G. Schmucker sent me one, although he had 
not confirmed me ; but the Faculty at Princeton were 
satisfied with it, thus showing it to be a mere form. 
This consumed four or six days, for the mail did not 
travel as fast in those days as at present, and there 
was no telegraph. 

I was admitted to the Senior Class, as a sort of 
" Irregular," not having pursued the same course 
with it in its last term ; but I enjoyed all its advan- 



AN OLI> LUTHERAN MINISTER. 73 

tas^es and was to all intents admitted " ad eundem," 



on a perfect equality, without, however, the privi- 
lege of graduation. I w^as also accorded the favor of 
attending the lectures of all the other professors, 
omitting some of the hours of the Senior Class; for 
instance. Dr. Hodge's Hebrew and Greek, and a few 
other subjects, which I had gone over, and in one 
of which I was really in advance of the Senior Class. 
I do not mean that I knew it better, but because 
they were just at that time studying it, and I had 
already gone over it. I met here eight or ten men 
whom I had known in Princeton and Dickinson Col- 
leges, so that I felt perfectly at home, and went to 
work with a will. I v\^as soon elected a member of 
the Round Table Club, a sort of intellectual aristo- 
crats, some of whom were not superior to others 
outside. We met once a week to discuss high the- 
ology, and it was considered quite a distinction to be 
elected, and of course it created jealousy in others. 
The number was small, very select and very conse- 
quential ! I do not know whether the Club has been 
perpetuated. As well as I can remember no minutes 
of proceedings were kept, and secrecy was observed. 
I do not think it ever amounted to much, but there 
was a ludicrous display of learning and an affectation 
of profound wisdom. 

Professor Hodge had a private class of more ad- 
vanced students of Hebrew, which I joined, and I 
remember the surprise which my pronunciation and 
accent occasioned the first time I was called on to 



74 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

recite. I gave it the deep, guttural, sonorous tone, 
according to the German style, and they the fiat 
American, which deprives it of half of its energy. 

Soon after I entered, I was sent for one morning 
by Professor Hodge, much to my surprise. I went 
to his study and found that he wanted me to help 
him in some German translation he was making for 
a theological journal he was editing, but I could ren- 
der him very little assistance. 

In 1880, a life of Dr. Hodge, by his son, was pub- 
lished, which is a model biography of a model man. 
How charmingly it delineates the character of that 
most excellent man, and how attractive the book to 
all readers of taste and intelligence! 

In an old letter of mine to my dear friend, the 
Rev. Dr. C. P. Krauth, Sen., I find the following 
account of a visit I made to Dr. Hodge, several 
years after my student life at Princeton : 

"I was received with great kiuduess by the Professors, and 
am staying with Dr. Hodge, who insisted upon it. You know 
that for seven months he has been upon his back, on account 
of a diseased thigh joint, but he still lectures to his class who 
are seated around his bed, whilst he reads and expounds . . . 
He is an enthusiastic admirer of Germany, and you may well 
imagine the tenor of our conversation. We spoke of men, man- 
ners and things, professors and students, books and authors, 
church and state, mind and matter, kings and subjects, nobles 
and ignobles, orthodox and heterodox, and many other things. 
He tells me that a man may become as learned in a garret in 
America as in a garret in Halle, and that the only advantage in 
going to a German university is in learning the men and the 
state of opinion in the theological world, the modes of instruc- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 75 

tiou, and the benefit of seeing and conversing with distinguished 
scholars . . . He says that Gesenius reads his printed Isaiah to 
his class, and when asked why he does not recommend his 
pupils to buy the book and read it for themselves he replies, 
' How man}- can afford to do it? perhaps ten in three hundred.' 
. . He told me many anecdotes of the professors, their 
affairs, sayings, quarrels and jealousies. When he saw Mar- 
heinecke, of Berlin, the latter said of Halle, * Da herschet die 
lebendige Dummheit.' " 

Drs. Miller, Alexander and Hodge were the only 
professors in my time, and they were the excellent 
of the earth. Dr. Miller lectured on Church History. 
He knew not a word of German, and could not avail 
himself of German writers, even at that day, unless 
they had written in Latin. His lectures on other 
branches were good, but his manner was cold and 
uns3^mpathetic, and did not arouse the enthusiasm 
of his pupils. Dr. Alexander, as a lecturer, was of 
a different character, and Hodge, then a compara- 
tively young man, was sprightly and attractive. 

One hot summer afternoon, during one of Dr. 
Miller's lectures on Church History, he was inter- 
rupted, and the rest of us excited to a laugh, by a 
loud, sonorous snore, which came from the son of a 
college President. The Doctor stopped, and re- 
marking, with a deep-drawn sigh, ' * Ah ! how much 
we have to bear in this world, ' ' proceeded with his 
lecture. 

On a visit to Princeton some years afterwards I 
congratulated the Doctor upon his healthy appear- 
ance. "Yes," said he, " I feel much better since 



76 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I've quit drinking!" Observing my surprise, he 
continued, * ' For some years, by the advice of my 
physician, I drank every day just one glass of the 
best wine I could buy in New York, but I have quit 
it, and feel much better ever since. ' ' 

I had scarcely got well settled at Princeton when 
I was invited to preach at Philadelphia by the people 
v/ho subsequently became St. Matthew's congrega- 
tion, but I refused. I was afraid that perhaps I 
might be tempted by the flattering prospect of things 
to rush into the ministry before I had finished my 
Seminary course. I was urged to accept the call, 
for it really amounted to that, by S. S. Schmucker, 
who had heard of it, which perhaps was well meant, 
but which displeased me much, for I was still writh- 
ing under some unhappy reminiscences. 

Theological questions were discussed in general 
meeting in the presence of the professors, who would 
then sum up the arguments and give their own opin- 
ion. On one occasion I prepared myself particularly 
well, and was highly complimented by Dr. Miller, 
far beyond my deserving. This brought me into 
some trouble, for after that I was frequently requested 
to open the discussion of questions by men who had 
been appointed, but I constantly refused, for I knew 
I was not competent to the task, and was afraid of 
losing the good character I had gained. Some of 
the questions discussed at these meetings were, " Is 
Adam a federal head of his posterity?" " Is regen- 
eration the effect of moral suasion?" " Is God bound 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 77 

to execute his vindicatory justice?" "Are the proph- 
ecies relating to the future condition of the Jews to 
be understood literally or figuratively?" and others 
of a similar character. There were not a few clear- 
headed, intelligent and well-educated young fellows 
among us, who handled these questions with great 
ability. 

On one occasion I remember that the question was 
of a profoundly metaphysical character. Some of 
the disputants complained that it was too abstract 
and unpractical. The well known theologian, George 
Bush, who had not yet become a Swedenborgian, 
was present on a visit, and in reference to the com- 
plaint made about the subject coolly observed that 
' ' dogs bark at strangers, ' ' and then went on to dis- 
cuss the matter most learnedly. 

There is a queer incident related of this eccentric 
genius in the " Life of Hodge," p. 53. He was once 
overwhelmed with a fear of the desertion of God 
because he had killed a mouse. 

High Calvinism was in the ascendency^ but there 
were also a fev/ Hopkinsians. I was considered as 
thoroughly unorthodox, because I could not adopt 
the extreme Calvinistic views on predestination and 
their Puritanic (not Calvinistic) opinions concerning 
the sacraments and ' ' The Sabbath. ' ' They did not 
like it at all when I asked them why they did not 
adopt Calvin's opinions on all subjects, particularly 
on the Sabbath, the Lord's Supper, and other points. 
On the Lord's Supper they were Zwinglian, but 



78 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

really most of them knew very little upon the sub- 
ject. These men were honest and upright, as far as 
I knew, and general harmony prevailed among them, 
although often there were fierce theological conflicts. 

More than three-fourths of them were benefi- 
ciaries, of whom some dressed much better than I 
did ; others were meagre enough in their wardrobe, 
but that depended upon the church which supported 
them. To one of our dandy . charity students I once 
loaned $40, but he has forgotten to return it to this 
day. He never amounted to anything in the church, 
and for many years he was a clerk in a government 
office in Washington. He never was elected as pas- 
tor of any church. 

As I said before, the students were men of blame- 
less lives, but their views of some subjects seemed 
strange to me. Many w^ould talk on all manner of 
matters on Sunday, and laugh and joke, and yet 
these same men would not write a letter to their 
parents even on that day, because writing implied 
work. I never argued the question with them, for 
it did not concern me. I have before stated a snnilar 
fact in relation to some pious college students in 
Nassau Hall. 

Some of our own church ministers who lived in 
towns where Presbyterianism prevailed also con- 
ceived similar vievv^s of the sanctity of " The Sab- 
bath, " as I experienced some years afterwards. One 
Sunday morning during very hot weather I was sit- 
ting in the front parlor of one of our ministers in a 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 79 

prominent inland town. The shutters were closed, 
and I threw them open to enjoy fresh air. The pas- 
tor rather violently remonstrated, as though I had 
committed a grievous fault, and said, *' Don't you 
know it is the Sabbath, and what will the Presby- 
terians say who pass by here on their way to church 
when they see my shutters open?" 

I also remember once giving offence to a professor 
of one of our colleges because in a Wednesday night 
lecture before the students I said " I did not think 
it was a violation of the ' Sabbath ' for a man to 
shave himself on that day. ' ' Sancta simplicitas ! 

It was a fact then as it is now among theological 
students, that more than three-fourths of them were 
engaged to be married. There was consequently 
much writing that was neither theology nor sermons. 
I know of two who compared their letters to their 
absent friends to determine which could write the 
most ardently and lovingly. It is said that one of 
them acknowledged himself conquered before the 
half of his competitor's letter was read. I am sat- 
isfied from observation that these premature and 
often inconsiderate engagements sadly interfere with 
the happiness and success of theological students. 
Many precious hours are wasted in vapid corres- 
pondence ; much annoying anxiety is suffered ; jeal- 
ousies and rivalries are often aroused ; in not a few 
instances the long engagements end in separations. 
Not a few young men, as their education advances 
and their experience is extended, discover that the 



8o LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

choice of their juvenile years was not judicious, and 
they change their minds to their ov/n discredit and 
the disappointment and wretchedness of the lady in 
question. Some, in mingling with society, find ladies 
more refined, intelligent, handsome, and perhaps 
better endowed with worldly goods, and reject their 
first love, and thus occasion scandal. These early 
engagements also influence some men to leave the 
Seminary, and ask for license before they have fin- 
ished the prescribed course of studies. Some of 
these men who were very poor were engaged to 
ladies of some means, who were the chief agents of 
securing their support. Perhaps it was the only re- 
turn they could give, though it had necessarily to be 
confined to one of the sisters. I do not know what 
the others thought of it. 

There was an ardent home mission spirit among 
some of them, and one of them, who had been up in 
eastern Pennsylvania, came back burning with zeal, 
and proposed sending missionaries among the Ger- 
mans of that region to rescue them from their heath- 
enism ! I modestly asked whether the men whom he 
thought should go spoke German? I set forth so 
many other practical difficulties in the way that the 
plan was given up, although I did not think it was 
ever seriously entertained. I admitted that the state 
of practical piety in that region might be improved. 

I conducted a Bible class and a Sunday-school in 
the country, and preached several times in a school- 
house. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 8 1 

I remember that my rather animated style of un- 
read preaching ^vas wonderfully pleasing to the Jer- 
sey country people at that school-house. It was not 
more than a mile or two from the Seminary, yet the 
people were not more enlightened than the same 
class in Pennsylvania, who did not hear a Seminary 
bell every clear day in the year. They did not at- 
tend the Princeton church, and were well satisfied 
with the plainest kind of talk, especially if it was not 
read and was animated. 

I remember that several of the students once 

staid all night at the house of the Rev. Mr. , 

the Presbyterian preacher, at a village a few miles 
east of Princeton. I think it was called Frogtown. 
There was a large, old-fashioned eight-day clock in 
the house, the strike of which was loud and sonorous, 
but which did not disturb the family, for they were 
used to it, but the terrific clang awoke me every time 
the clock struck till after midnight. I then silently 
arose, crept to the nois}^ machine and stopped the 
pendulum. This disarranged the routine of the 
whole house. The girls slept longer than usual, 
the breakfast was later, and everything else went 
wrong. They wondered what had happened to the 
clock, and they never found out. 

Besides the lectures in the Seminary various other 
exercises were assigned to us. I remember that T 
was appointed to prepare a skeleton on " O death, 
where is thy sting?" Also an essay on Memoriter 
Preaching ; The best Manner of Managing the Voice ; 
6 



62 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

A Critique on Archbishop Seeker as a Sermonizer. 
I also attended some lectures in the Middle class, 
and I heard Professor Patton, of the college, once a 
week on Greek tragedy. 

I do not remember that one of the students read 
German, much less spoke it, except a German Re- 
formed student from Eastern Pennsylvania, who 
spoke a barbarous dialect. It had not yet become 
the style to learn German. 

I was one of four elected to make Bible Society 
speeches in the college chapel, where a few years 
before I had attended worship so often ; but, alas ! in 
a different state of mind. I made a decided hit, and 
the whole of it consisted in a story I told of an old 
Armenian bishop. I did not speak ten minutes, but 
I got much credit for what was really a poor perform- 
ance. I dramatized the story, and gave it in my best 
style. It takes very little to move some audiences, 
especially when you go out of the old, horse-mill 
round, and give them something fresh in matter, but 
especially in manner. 

About this time, an English elocutionist, named 
Barber, came along, who had classes in the Seminary. 
A report was started in town, by some women, that 
there was something wrong about his character. An 
indignation meeting was held in the college chapel, 
and Plumer and I were the only men who stood up 
in his defence. Plumer, in his speech, most effect- 
ively recited Shakespeare's "Who steals my purse 
steals trash, ' ' and so on. This was the same Wil- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 83 

liam S. Plumer who became a distinguished minis- 
ter, author and professor, and who died in Baltimore, 
Md., in 1879 or 1880. When Plumer was pastor in 
Baltimore, 18 or 20 years before his death, he and I 
were very intimate. He went from there to be Pro- 
fessor in the Seminary at Allegheny City, Pa. , where 
he was at the breaking out of the Rebellion. He 
was supposed to sympathize with the rebels, and he 
was compelled to leave that place. He was after- 
wards Professor at Columbia, S. C, until that school 
was disbanded. He came to Baltimore for medical 
treatment, and died in one of our hospitals. He was 
an eminently good man, and the writer of many 
good books. 

I had frequent conversations with some students 
about joining our ministr}^, as furnishing opportuni- 
ties of doing good which they thought their own 
church did not afford, but nothing ever came of it ; 
and it is just as well, for I very seldom, in subse- 
quent life, saw much good coming out of this sort of 
marriage with people not trained in our ways. 

There was very little intercourse between the 
students and the town's people, and no visiting the 
ladies, for most of the students had ladies elsewhere 
to whom they owed special attentions. 

During the spring vacation I did not go home, but 
remained and studied, excepting a short tour I made 
as far up the North River as West Point. On the 
boat I met a young man with whom I got into con- 
versation, and found out that he was a student of 



84 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

one of our ministers in Pennsylvania. He was very 
verdant in experience and knowledge. He knew 
nothing whatever concerning the Church elsewhere, 
and uttered some very un-Lutheran sentiments. 
Some years afterwards I met this man in the Penn- 
sylvania Synod, but he never was of any account. 
He defended the Zwinglian view of the Lord's Sup- 
per in an article in The Review ; he neglected the 
Synod, and his name was finally dropped. On this 
voyage I saw another man of bad distinction. He 
was a small, thin, slovenly dressed man, who spoke 
to nobody, and seemed anxious to avoid everybody. 
He was brisk in his movements and restless in all his 
demeanor; he had a keen, piercing eye that really 
glistened ; long, flaxen hair hung in negligent pro- 
fusion over his shoulders ; his face seemed wrinkled 
with care, and general inquietude marked the whole 
man. IT WAS AARON BURR! The boat passed 
within a mile of the bank of the Hudson, where, 22 
years before, he killed General Hamilton in a duel, 
and that must have been a painful reminiscence.* 

"* During the meeting of The American Association of Sci- 
ence, at Boston, in August, 1880, the Hon. R. C, Winthrop in- 
vited four of us, Rev. Dr. Rogers, of London, Rev. Dr. Dal- 
rymple, of Baltimore, Judge Speck, of St. Louis, and myself, 
to his magnificent villa in Brookline. Among his fine collec- 
tion of pictures is a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, and while 
we were admiring it the conversation turned upon Aaron Burr. 
I happened to mention that I had seen Burr in 1826, on a steam- 
boat, on the North River. Mr. Winthrop remarked, " I was on 
that boat at the same time and also saw Burr." 



CHAPTER IV. 

LICENSED TO PREACH— GETTYSBURG SEMINARY. 

I HAD Spent seven months at Princeton Seminary, 
and the class graduated. This was in 1826. I re- 
turned to York, and in October I went to Winches- 
ter, Va., where the Synod of Maryland and Virginia 
met, to be licensed. My examination was not se- 
vere ; it was over in less than an hour. Mr. Krauth 
and Mr. D. F. Schaeffer principally conducted it, 
and I was unanimously accepted. I was asked to 
read the first few verses of Genesis in Hebrew, v/hich 
I knew by heart, and the analysis of every word. 
I was asked only one question on the analysis of the 
first word, by a man who evidently knew nothing 
about it. Mr. Krauth was the only man present who 
could read the language. Mr. Schmucker was ab- 
sent. They insisted upon my preaching, and I gave 
them a sermon on "Awake, thou that sleepest," etc. 
I was the only licentiate at the Synod in Winchester. 
In those days they were more rare than at present. 

Immediately after my licensure, a party of a cer- 
tain congregation disaffected with their minister, 
who was one of the best men living, but of whom 
they wanted to get rid because of his faithful preach- 

(85) 



S6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ing, absolutely asked me whether I would come 
among them and establish a schismatic organization ; 
but I was not the man to be employed in such a dis- 
honorable, unchurchly proceeding, and gave them 
my opinion in terms which did them good, I hope, 
although, of course, they were offended at me. I 
wrote to the minister and informed him of the con- 
spiracy against him. 

On my way home I spent several days with Mr. 
Krauth at Martinsburg, where he was pastor, when 
an intimacy grew up between us, which continued 
to his lamented death at Gettysburg, in 1867. 

In my " Fifty Years, " p. 10 1, I have spoken at 
large of this honored, godly servant of Christ, whom 
I admired and loved more dearly than any other 
man, except my own brothers. He was a widower 
at the time of my visit to him, and a severe reader 
of miscellaneous books. He was highly respected 
by the people of every church for his perfect single- 
ness of heart, irreproachable conduct and amiable 
disposition. * 

I also stopped at Hagerstown and preached for 
Mr. B. Kurtz. It was on this occasion that I at- 
tended the first church fair I ever saw ; it was held 
in his lecture room. They have become almost 
universal at this present day, substituted sometimes 

* In the Spring of 1885, his sou, John Morris Krauth, of Get- 
tysburg, sent me a file of my letters to his father, written 40 
years ago, from which I have drawn some interesting reminis- 
cences. I sent them to the Historical Society. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 87 

by excursions or dramatic and musical entertain- 
ments, which fifty years ago would have been con- 
sidered theatrical and of course highly objection- 
able. I returned to York and preached for Mr. 
Schmucker in the large church. This was a trial ; 
all my old companions and other persons among 
whom I had been reared were there; my mother 
was there, but not a word did she say before or after. 
I knew, however, that she was praying for me. 
The only person besides myself who was at all ap- 
prehensive was my brother, Charles A. Morris, 
whose sensitively nervous nature w^as so excited by 
fear of my utter failure that it was with difficulty 
that he could force himself to church, and when 
there he took a seat near the door so that he might 
escape in a hurry in the event of my coming to a 
dead halt and being compelled to leave the pulpit 
in disgrace. It was the severest trial of his nerv^ous 
system that he ever encountered. I do not think 
he slept a wink that night, and I am sure he ate 
nothing during the preceding day. 

Charles A. ^Morris was as pure a man as ever 
lived. From his earliest youth he was devoted 
to God, and through his long life of 82 years he ex- 
emplified all the virtues of Christianity. For over 
50 years he was a Sunday-school teacher, and was 
never absent from his post except when out of town, 
which was seldom, or when he was sick. He was 
most faithful and conscientious in the preparation 
of his lessons, and usually wrote them out, as well 



55 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

as his numeroiis addresses to his school. He had 
all the Sunday-school helps in the way of books and 
papers, and I found large piles of manuscript upon 
this subject among his effects. From his early 
manhood he began to be a helper of the poor, and I 
have a letter from one of the most eminent of our 
old ministers, who had become poor, acknowledging 
a liberal donation from him. This was many years 
ago, when my brother was yet a young man and not 
himself rich, ^he same may be said of many other 
deserving persons whom he aided in the same way. 
Multitudes of letters were found thanking him for 
timely donations. I once made a rough calculation, 
based on reliable data, and came to the conclusion 
that in the course of his life he gave away for charity 
over |8o,ooo. One of his gifts to Pennsylvania 
College, at Gettysburg, was $20,000, besides other 
large sums to the Seminary. Many of his benefac- 
tions in money were not known until after his 
death.* 

The Seminary at Gettysburg had in the meantime 
gone into operation, and I concluded to enter as a 
student and * * wait for a call. ' ' 

I did not offer myself to any vacant church, for I 
did not know any; vacancies were rare in those 
days ; and again I resolved not to * * run in advance 
of Providence. ' ' I thought that if the Lord wanted 
me anywhere He would open a door for me, and be- 

* See Drs. Bauni's and Weiser's estimate cf him in "Fifty 
Years," p. 268. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 89 

sides I could afford to wait. There is a difference 
of opinion upon this subject among good men, some 
maintaining that a man wanting a place, whether he 
is at the time a pastor or not, is authorized to offer 
his services and secure the influence of brethren to 
get him the place. Others say wait for a direct call, 
without previous ' ' candidating, " as it is now desig- 
nated. I know one vacant church which quite re- 
cently has had 4 3 applications, every one of which, 
except one, came from men who were pastors, and 
every one of whom thought it was the will of God 
that he should go there. 

I entered in the fall of 1S26 as a licentiate, and the 
only one in the institution, and thus for the third 
time I became the pupil of S. S. Schmucker — first, 
in the Academy at York ; second, at New Market, 
Va., and third, in the Seminary. The present edi- 
fice (old building) had not been erected, and the 
recitations were heard in the old Academy.* 
The men whom I met there as students were : 
I. Itenry Haverstick, who had been a fellow- 
student at Dickinson. He was a man of small stat- 
ure, and gifted above the ordinary. For several 
3^ears he was a useful pastor, and then conceived the 
idea of going to Germany to study. He went in 
1832 or 1833, and remained nearly two years. I 
advanced him ^60 for a series of letters he engaged 
to write for the Observer^ of which I was editor. 

* See my History of the Semiuary, Evan. Review, Vol. IV., 
No. 4, 1876. 



90 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

2. Lewis Eichelberger, afterwards pastor at Win- 
chester, Va. , then professor in the Theological Sem- 
inary of South Carolina, and who died during his ser- 
vice in that school. At Winchester he edited two 
volumes of The Lutheran Preacher in 1853-5. A list 
of his other writings may be seen in my Bibliotheca 
Lutherana. They consist of fonr pamphlets and six 
or eight review articles. He was a sensible, earnest 
man, rather prolix in his talk and preaching, but 
companionable and devoted to his work. He died 
in January, 1884. 

3. David P. Rosenmiller, a York boy, whom I 
knew in our juvenile days. He served as pastor in 
several places in Pennsylvania. He was one of the 
northern pioneer ministers in southwest Virginia 
and North Carolina, and had much of what the Ger- 
mans call "world experience. ' ' He began his studies 
with F. Schaeffer, of Frederick. He was a labori- 
ous worker, and secured the esteem of all his breth- 
ren. A son of his is in the Episcopal ministry. He 
died in September, 1880, while attending the East 
Pennsylvania Synod at AUentown. 

4. Jacob Kaempfer was an honest, clear-headed, 
uncouth countryman — I believe from North Caro- 
lina. I remember seeing him when I was a student 
at New Market. He became one of those honest, 
plodding, unpretending, useful country pastors who 
aim only at doing good and serving their generation 
acceptably to God and man. He lived in York 
county. Pa., where for several years he was sue- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 9I 

cessfully employed in the service of the Bible 
Society. 

5. J. Galloway was a Presbyterian, and entered 
the ministry of that church. He studied at our 
Seminary because, I believe, his parents lived at 
Gettysburg. 

6. David Jacobs did not finish the full course of 
two years on account of ill health and because of his 
appointment as teacher in the preparatory depart- 
ment. He died several years after. I do not think 
he was ever licensed. He was a brother of the late 
Prof. M. Jacobs, of Pennsylvania College, and uncle 
of that learned and worthy gentleman. Prof. H. E. 
Jacobs, of the Philadelphia Seminary. 

7. Nicolas R. Sharretts was of Carlisle. He began 
his studies with Dr. J. G. Schmucker in York before 
the Seminary was opened. He died in Indiana 
county, Pa. 

8. George Yeager, of Pennsylvania. He settled 
in Kentucky, where for a number of years he ca- 
reered conspicuously in a very limited sphere. 

9. Benjamin Oehrle, of Pennsylvania, who died a 
few years after he left the Seminary. 

10. Daniel Heilig, of Pennsylvania, who settled 
in West Virginia, and was seldom seen afterwards. 

11. Jonathan Oswald, of Maryland, became assist- 
ant to Dr. J. G. Schmucker, of York, and served the 
neighboring churches for many years. He devoted 
much of his time to the study of prophecy, and pub- 
lished a book on the subject. In his later years he 



92 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

undertook the translation of the Hallische Nach- 
richten, a portion of which was unfortunately pub- 
lished by the Book Committee in Philadelphia, 
through the influence of a friend. It was behind 
the times in translation, and the remnant has never 
been published. 

12. Samuel D. Finckel became a very useful min- 
ister and filled several positions with credit to himself 
and benefit to others. He was a capital German as 
well as English preacher. His last pastorate was in 
Washington, where he received an appointment in 
the War Department, which he held for many years 
before his death. (See " Fifty Years," p. 325.) He 
has a son in our ministry, and several other sons are 
influential laymen in the church. 

13. William Artz was of Hagerstown. He went 
to North Carolina, and remained there all his life. 
He died in 1875, but was not in the ministry at his 
death. 

These are the men whom I found as students at 
Gettysburg. This was the first class, and the year 
was 1826. We lived together in great harmony, and 
enjoyed ourselves wonderfully. I recited Rambach's 
German Moral, but attended few other classes. I 
wrote and read in my room at Mrs. Hutchinson's, 
South Baltimore Street. I preached once in the 
Presbyterian church, which was at that time located 
on the street leading to the college. There was very 
little English preaching in our own church. Mr. 
Herbst was pastor, who never preached English, and 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 93 

Prof. Schmucker seldoin occupied the pulpit. Dr. 
McConaughy was pastor of the Presb3'terian church, 
where we sometimes went, and occasionally we 
strayed into- a small Methodist church ' ' round the 
corner. " 

Charles McLean was the talented and eccentric 
pastor of the old Scotch Seceder church, but who at 
that time was exscinded^ but still retained the church. 
We sometimes went to hear him. There was no 
effort made to instil into our mind any special fond- 
ness for the Lutheran Church. 

Some of our boys taught Sunday-school in the 
country, and some of them preached in the Poor 
House. 

The professor's theological course w^as constructed 
pretty much on the general plan pursued in that 
day. I do not think, however, that he taught Dog- 
matik this first year. The whole course at that day 
was only two years, which amounted altogether to 
about twenty months' instruction. He was very 
anxious to swell the number of his pupils, and ad- 
mitted men for six or seven subsequent 5"ears who 
were entirely unprepared. He had occasion to re- 
gret it in not a few instances afterwards. He was 
often deeply mortified at the small number, and the 
almost constant wrangles with the teachers of the 
preparatory school, or Gymnasium, as it was called, 
for inducing some of the pupils to enter the Semi- 
narv^ before they were fit. 

There was no pastoral supervision exercised over 
us, no paternal or encouraging word was given. 



94 • LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

The professor's salary was originally fixed at $500, 
a sum which would about pay house rent at the 
present time, but it was soon increased, though it 
did not amount to $1000 for several years. He had 
the inconvenient reputation of being a man in what 
was called "good circumstances," although his in- 
come was not large. 

The Seminary was not regarded favorably by the 
older ministers of the Church in Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania and New York. They were displeased that so 
young a man was elected professor; they doubted 
his church loyalty, because he had studied in part at 
Princeton; they were mortified that a Seminary 
should have been established by a set of young men 
comparatively, without their assistance, and then 
again, most of them were unfriendly to the General 
Synod, under whose auspices this institution was be- 
gun. The result was that very few of the earlier 
students were from the churches served by the 
leaders in Eastern Pennsylvania, although some 
very good pupils came from that quarter.* 

I do not think our professor pursued the proper 
course for gaining the confidence and support of these 
men. I know that he excited prejudices against 
them among his students, and it required years to 
eradicate this unfavorable opinion of them from my 
own mind. He had g'ood reason not to admire them, 
for they violently opposed the General Synod, which 

* See my History of the Seminary, in Evang, Rev., Vol. IV., 
No. 4, 1876. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 95 

he as resolutely and ably defended. Indeed, I think 
it could be easily shown that the salvation of the 
General Synod from utter annihilation was entirely 
owing to his perseverance and energy. There was 
no journal at that time in which he could defend it, 
but he was indefatigable in his correspondence and 
skilfully rallied the scattered and disheartened forces. 
His influence, however, in this direction, extended 
no further than to a few synods in the central section 
of the church, and to one or two ministers in North 
Carolina ; but he succeeded in maintaining the insti- 
tution, and lived to see it grow into a large and 
influential body. While he Vs^as a man of power in 
some directions, he had not the faculty of securing 
friends to any cause by personal courtesies or acts of 
polite kindnesc. He knew how to retain adherents, 
especially among come of the younger clergy, but he 
failed in overcoming the opposition and prejudices 
of older men. Even some of the younger men whom 
he controlled, did not, in every instance, sanction his 
action. 

At this period, Professor Schmucker, as he was 
then called, had not yet outlived the theological 
influence of his father, who had trained him in a 
sound Lutheranism. In subsequent years he indi- 
rectly taught his pupils to esteem the symbols of the 
Church very lightly, the result of which was that 
some of them regarded them with a feeling border- 
ing on contempt, and not because they had studied 
them, but because they had not/ The effect was 



g6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

what might be expected on tminforined minds. 
Some of his pupils became extreme anti-creed men, 
whilst strange to say, the effect upon some other 
young men was directly the reverse. They began to 
study the books which the professor sought so sedu- 
lously to depreciate, and the result was that they 
became sturdy Lutherans, and among these were a 
few of his nearest relatives.* 

* For a fair and candid exhibition of the state of the church 
in that day, see Prof. H. I. Schmidt's *' On the Lord's Supper," 
New York, 1852. 



CHAPTER V. 

CAI.Iv TO BAI^TIMORK AND PASTORAI, I,IFB ; 1827 TO 1860. 

I HAD not been at Gettysburg over a month or so, 
when I was invited by the First English Lutheran 
Church, in Baltimore, to preach for them several 
times. I do not know who mentioned my name to 
them, but neither I nor any of my relatives had any- 
thing to do with it. I accepted the invitation, and 
came to this city in the fall of 1826, and preached 
three or four times. I returned to Gettysburg, and 
soon after a call to the pastorship followed. The 
salary Avas $500 a year. After consultation with my 
brothers and others, and proper religious considera- 
tion, I agreed to go, and on February 4, 1827, I 
preached my first discourse as pastor, on Acts x. 29: 
" I ask for what intent ye have sent for me?" This 
congregation had recently erected a small church in 
Lexington street, but had no previous pastor in that 
house of worship. 

I was totally inexperienced, and the idea of going 
to a city where, in my verdancy, I thought all the 
people were intelligent and refined, and where they 
were accustomed to the best style of preachers, cre- 
ated dreadful apprehension in my mind, I do not 
7 (97) 



98 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

think the young ministers of the present day are 
troubled with such fears. They seem ready to go 
anywhere, and to preach without any timidity to any 
congregation. I believe this is owing, in pai?t, to 
their larger intercourse with society than we of the 
olden time enjoyed, which is an important part of 
education. A wider range of acquaintance with 
men, the facilities of travel, and the progressive 
spirit of the age, have given young men more self- 
reliance. I had the foolish idea that anybody in a 
city was a good judge of sermons, and I was alarmed 
when I saw smart -looking young people come to my 
church, and this most unfounded conception led me 
into some inexcusable blunders. I soon found that 
city people are not more intelligent than country 
people, nor better judges of what is good preaching, 
I also knew that I would have no ministerial brother 
to sympathize w^th me heartily, advise or correct me. 
There was no other English Lutheran church, and 
the one which called me was still in an embryonic 
condition. I knew that I would have many difficul- 
ties to encounter and hard work to perform. I was 
apprehensive even of opposition on the part of some 
Germans, and of indifference from other quarters. 
It was an enterprise environed by difficulties all 
around, and I, a verdant country ministerial boy, 
was expected to overcome them. 

I had one advantage here, and that was that my 
relations were very respectable and influential peo- 
ple. Dr. Keerl, a physician and druggist of high 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 99 

character and considerable wealth, and his four sons, 
all of whom were much older than I was, and were 
my first cousins. My almost daily association with 
them brought me into contact with many other per- 
sons of similar standing, which proved advantageous 
to me as a young minister. The only other Lutheran 
ministers in the city were the Rev. Dr. J. Daniel 
Kurtz and John Uhlhorn, joint pastors of the Ger- 
man church in Gay street. I have given sketches 
of both of these men in my ' ' Fifty Years, ' ' pp. 2 1 
and 95. These men received me with polite cold- 
ness, but did nothing to encourage my project, for 
the fact was that most of the persons engaged in our 
enterprise had been members of their congregation. 
Dr. Kurtz was aware of the necessity for an English 
church, but it was not his interest to show any de- 
cided approbation of ours. He was well aware that 
many young German Lutherans, and even whole 
families of the more respectable portion of his 
church had left, and joined other English churches, 
and he was too honest to put any obstacles in our 
way. Whilst he would perhaps not directly advise 
any one to leave his church and join ours, yet I am 
sure he would not have thrown obstructions in the 
way of their going. Some of their influential mem- 
bers opposed us directly, but I had the satisfaction, 
not many years after, of receiving some of these 
very men and their large families into .my church, 
where some of their descendants remain to this day 
as most efficient members. 



lOO LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

It pained me to hear of not a few influential fam- 
ilies, with which I became acquainted, who had been 
reared in the old German church, but who now be- 
longed to other denominations. Some of these en- 
couraged me, but they were too comfortably folded 
elsewhere to come back to our flock, and I never 
asked one of them to do so. Indeed, I sometimes 
avoided families where I was invited to tea, lest I 
might have been suspected of wanting them to re- 
turn. Dr. Kurtz and all his family except one 
member subsequently joined my church. 

Before I proceed to, write the particulars of my 
long pastorate of thirty-three years, I will give here 
an abridged sketch of our history, which was printed 
as the preface of a little book I published when I 
resigned, or a short time before. In their proper 
places I may also give a sketch of the other English 
churches in town, all of which were offshoots of the 
old tree which I planted. 

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN 
CHURCH. 

The necessity for an English Lutheran Church in 
this city was deeply felt for some years before the 
first was actually established. It was a subject of 
much anxious thought and deliberation among many 
friends of the cause, and on the 27th of October, 
1823, the first regular meeting for business was held 
at the house of David Bixler, in Howard street. 
This meeting was attended by David Bixler, John 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. lOI 

Reese, Thomas Henning, Michael Klinefelter, 
George Stonebraker, Joshua Medtart, Jacob Deems 
and Frederick Seyler. They came together with a 
determined will to carry out their purpose, and in 
their laudable enterprise they had the sympathies 
and prayers of not a few energetic ladies. A sub- 
scription paper was drawn up, and two days after 
another meeting for further consultation was held, 
and a resolution passed to inform the Synod of the 
project in contemplation, at the same time request- 
ing that body to appoint ministers to preach in suc- 
cession. A committee to collect funds was appointed, 
as well as to address a letter to the vestry of the Ger- 
man Lutheran Church, soliciting aid in the erection 
of a house of worship. 

It does not appear that any minister visited them 
till August, 1824, when the Rev. Mr. Krauth, then 
of Martinsburg, Va., complied with their urgent re- 
quest and spent several days among them. At a 
meeting held August 30, 1824, which Mr. Krauth 
attended, measures toward a permanent organization 
were taken, and a committee was appointed to rent 
a room in which to hold religious service. Day now 
began to dawn. A room was soon secured, and 
though it was an humble place, hope revived in the 
hearts of these devoted children of the Church. This 
room, which was occupied by a school during the 
week, was situated on the east side of Howard street, 
near the corner, north of Pratt. About the same 
time measures were taken to secure a lot on which 



I02 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

to erect a permanent house of worship. During 
this time, for a period of seven or eight months, the 
little flock enjoyed the pastoral services of the Rev. 
Jacob Medtart. 

In the meantime the lot on which the church 
stands * was secured, and active preparations were 
made to build. In the fall of 1825 the corner-stone 
was laid, on which occasion the sermon was deliv- 
ered by the Rev. D. F. SchaefEer, of Fredericktown, 
who was assisted in the other solemnities by several 
other ministers. 

After Mr. Medtart resigned, various clergymen 
from other places and from the city were invited to 
preach. 

On the 28th of May, 1826, the new house of wor- 
ship was consecrated. The sermon was preached 
by the Rev. Dr. Endress, of Lancaster, Pa. It was 
a day of pious rejoicing and thanksgiving, and the 
people said with Solomon, i Kings viii. 13, "We 
have built thee an house to dwell in — a settled place 
for thee to abide in forever. ' ' 

On the i6th of July, 1826, the Rev. Wilham 
Jenkins, a licentiate of the Synod of North Carolina, 
was elected pastor, but difficulties occurred which 
prevented his acceptance of the call. This created 
new perplexity, and for a while the people were 

* This was the church on Lexington street, on the north side, 
between Howard and Park streets, which was burned down in 
1872, durinor Dr. Barclay's pastorate. The site is now occupied 
by large business houses. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. IO3 

disheartened. They looked around and lighted on 
their present minister, who was then a young student 
at Gettysburg, without experience or knowledge of 
the world. With fear and trembling, and only on 
the advice and persuasion of older brethren, he ac- 
cepted the invitation to preach, and on Sunday, 
December 17, 1826, he preached his first sermon as 
a visiting minister. On Thursday night after he 
preached again, and at a meeting held after service 
he was elected pastor. After much deliberation he 
accepted the call, and on Sunday, February 4, 1827, 
he preached his first sermon as pastor of the church 
from the words Acts x. 29: "I ask therefore for 
what intent ye have sent for me. ' ' On the 3d of 
June of the same year the first celebration of the 
Lord's Supper was held, and as it raay be a matter 
of interest to some, the names of the communicants 
are here given: 

Andrew Walter, David Bixler, John Reese, An- 
thony Goverman, Erasmus Uhler, Frederick Seyler, 
John Brown, Joseph Clark, David Martin, William 
Ross, John SchriA^er, Abel D. Chase, T. Sederborg, 
Jesse Reifsnyder, John S. Bridges, Augustus Hack, 
William Hack, Garrett Altvater, Magdalena Bixler, 
Elizabeth Wehrly, Catharine Uhler, Ellen Brown, 
Catharine Martin, Rochena Utz, Ann Wampler, 
Margaret Bauer, Rachel Waltemeyer, Elizabeth 
Miller, Elizabeth Bruner, Mrs. Moal, Mrs. Deems, 
Miss Elizabeth Brien, Mary Deems, Mary Bixler, 
Ann Simpson, Isabella Altvater. 



I04 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

A Sunday-school was organized soon after the set- 
tlement of the minister, and various other church 
societies were formed. The congregation gradually 
increased, and we were greatly encouraged. 

In 1830 the first organ for the church was pur- 
chased, and in the same year the parsonage was 
built. 

In 1832 it was found necessary to enlarge the 
church, and nearly $1,000 were subscribed for the 
erection of galleries, but at a subsequent meeting, 
June 25 th, it was resolved to extend the building 
towards the street, which was accomplished at con- 
siderable expense, and forty pews were added to the 
capacity of the building. At the same time the 
present lecture-room was excavated and furnished. 
Before that we held our weekly lectures and Sun- 
day-school in the church, and afterwards, until the 
present room was finished, the Sunday-school and 
other extra meetings were held in the room immedi- 
ately behind the church, which was erected for that 
special purpose. 

These improvements greatly increased the debt of 
the church. Money was borrowed to meet present 
liabilities, and effectual measures were adopted to 
pay the amount. 

One measure pursued was the establishment of a 
Sinking Fund, which was vigorously conducted by 
the young men, which produced the first year 
$976.02; the second year, $969, and in two years 
and a half they raised $2,580. This, of course, did 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I05 

not include the larger subscriptions of the members. 
In addition to all, $325 were realized from a concert 
of sacred music given in the church. 

About this time also the Council, with the advice 
of a majority of the congregation, raised the price 
of the pews, excepting in the case of widows, who 
retained their pews at the old prices. 

The efforts of the ladies in raising funds for the 
church should not be overlooked. They on several 
occasions relieved the treasury by timel}^ contribu- 
tions^ and besides this displayed their interest in the 
church by the purchase of lamps and furnishing the 
pulpit. 

Most of the additional pews were rented as soon as 
the house was finished, and have continued to be 
occupied, for the most part, to the present day. Gas 
was introduced into the church in 1838. 

In 1839 an unusual religious interest was felt in 
many churches of this city, and during that year 
eighty persons joined our communion. Some have 
removed, some belong to other Lutheran churches 
in this city, some have not remained faithful to their 
vows, some have died, and some continue with us to 
this day. 

Nothing of special religious interest occurred for 
several years, though the services were Avell at- 
tended, the number of communicants gradually in- 
creasing. 

A considerable degree of anxiety was beginning 
to be felt from another quarter. Nothwithstanding 



lOO LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

the liberal contributions of the church for the pre- 
ceding five or six years, the actual debt was increas- 
ing. Besides the annual ground rent of $300, the 
debt now amounted to nearly ^9,000. In 1845 a 
congregational meeting was called, the gratifying 
result of which was that before the expiration of two 
years the larger portion of this debt was paid. So 
great was the relief extended that the Council passed 
a resolution of thanks to the congregation for their 
liberality. 

In 1848 the church was frescoed, and a part newly 
painted, at an expense of over $600. New chande- 
liers were also purchased. 

In 1850 a debt of $2,053.75 was paid by subscrip- 
tion, which was another instance of the liberality of 
the congregation. 

In 185 1 the lecture-room was furnished with new 
settees, and the aisles were carpeted. 

In 1854 the ladies of the congregation undertook 
to raise funds for the purpose of improving the front 
of the church, and a committee of gentlemen was 
appointed to co-operate with them, which work was 
satisfactorily accomplished during the year ; the 
church was closed for several months whilst these 
repairs were going on, but divine service was held 
nearly all the time in the lecture-room. 

In February, 1857, on the 30th anniversary of the 
pastor's settlement, a subscription of $1,500 was 
raade towards putting a new roof on the church, 
and for other necessary repairs. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I07 

In 1858 the new organ was purchased at the price 
of $1,500, which amount was raised by the laudable 
energy of several of our young men. 

Two legacies have been left to the church, one of 
$500 by the late William Wehrly in 1849, which has 
been properly appropriated, and another of $1,000 
by the late Frederick Seyler in 1857, which is not 
yet due. 

Including the cost of the original building, the 
alterations and repairs, the erection of the parson- 
age, ground rents, subscriptions, donations to benev- 
olent societies, and general support of public wor- 
ship, it is estimated that $75,000 have been expended 
by this congregation since its organization 32 years 
ago. 

The pastor has baptized 1,204 infants and adults, 
confirmed 458, buried 217 infants and 270 adults, 
administered the Lord's Supper publicly 128 times, 
married 508 couples, delivered over 4,000 sermons. 
During 32 years' service he has not been prevented 
from preaching by sickness in a single instance. 

I furnished the above statement for a paper pub- 
lished in town. After my resignation in i860 the 
Rev. John McCron was elected pastor, and this re- 
sulted in a division. More than 100 members left 
and bought a Presbyterian church in Eutaw street, 
now^ St. Mark's, and elected the Rev. Dr. T. Stork, 
of Philadelphia, pastor. Rev. McCron was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Barclay. During 
his ministry the old church, which had been en- 



Io8 - LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

larged twice while I was pastor and renovated sev- 
eral times, was burned dovv^n. The lot was sold, 
and the present edifice, corner of Lanvale and Fre- 
mont streets, was erected. 

I now proceed to give some of the particulars of 
my pastoral life. There was no such thing as in- 
stallation in those days, and I began my work with- 
out it. I had a pleasant home at Mr. George Stone- 
braker's, 42 Hanover street, and I wish to leave on 
record my appreciation of his kindness to me. I 
lived with him from my coming, in February, to my 
marriage, in November, and was treated as one of 
the family. When I asked him for a final settlement 
he refused to receive any compensation whatever. 
He was a kind, amiable man, and was considered 
rich for those days, and had no children. Both he 
and Mrs. Stonebraker died long ago. Mrs. Stone- 
braker married twice after her first husband's death. 
I buried her three husbands, having also married her 
to two of them. Mr. Stonebraker intended leaving a 
legacy towards building another English Lutheran 
Church, but he wrote the will himself, which was so 
awkwardly and illegally worded that the court de- 
clared that part of it void, and the Church got 
nothing. 

I began with only 28 families, and even visiting 
them frequently did not consume much time. I 
could in one day see them all. I had but few official 
acts to perform, excepting preaching twice on Sun- 
day and lecturing on Wednesday night, and of course 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I09 

had abundant time to study, which I used faithfully, 
especially in the preparation of sermons, one of 
which I wrote out fully every week, and thoroughly 
elaborated the other. I made it a matter of prayer 
and conscience not to go into the pulpit without 
giving the people the very best I could furnish, al- 
though much of it was deficient enough. I added to 
my library constantly, and even fell into that morbid 
habit peculiar to some young men, of multiplying 
books without judgment or taste. I often attended 
book auctions, very common in those days, and 
bought books for which I had no use, and piled up 
my shelves with what I afterwards sold as mere 
lumber. I sold off three or four very considerable 
collections of books in my time, and of course always 
at a loss. But when 1 went to Baltimore I had not 
as good a working library as some of the beneficiaries 
at Gettysburg now have. 

I did an act, some years after, which I have 
regretted ever since. After having accumulated 
about a peck of written sermons and skeletons I 
committed them to the flames, and made a fresh 
start. I regret this now, not that they would ever 
have been of any service to anybody, but that I 
should now like to see my pulpit productions of 
long, long ago. Perhaps I might have used some 
of them over again, as I do now with my present 
stock on hand. I have preached some of them as 
often as three times to the same people, and so little 
striking was there in any of them that it was seldom 



no LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

that the repetition was discovered, or at least I never 
heard of it excepting once or twice. 

I soon became acquainted with the very few min- 
isters then living here, excepting some of the Meth- 
odists. Among the members of this denomination, 
who were physicians besides, I had some good 
friends. Dr. Roberts, Dr. Bond and some others I 
knew^ well. But John Breckenridge, Helfenstein, 
Hamner, especially Duncan, Musgrave and Backus, 
when he came, were particular associates. I also 
became well acquainted with the leading working 
laymen of the various churches, for I at once entered 
vigorously into the working societies, where I 
learned to know these men. I also joined several 
literary associations, and this brought me into con- 
tact with many of the intelligent young men of the 
city. I was President of the Baltimore Lyceum, 
and also of the Young Men's Bible Society, and 
afterwards of the State Bible Society. This was 
not, however, at the beginning of my career. 

I will here mention another of the institutions to 
which I belonged during my pastoral life. It was 
a Conversational Club, w^hich met in the homes 
of the members. It was composed of such men 
as Hon. Jno. Barney, John P. Kennedy, J. H. B. 
Latrobe, Rev. Dr. Burnap, Dr. Wynne, Brantz 
Mayer, and other literary characters. A subject 
was started and it was talked out, or a member 
would relate an incident or tell a story, on which 
the rest of us would make remarks, and thus the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. Ill 

evening would pass enlivened by wit, brilliant talk, 
and social intercourse. There was nothing but cold 
water furnished for refreshment, not even cigars. 
We usually met in splendidly decorated parlors, 
where smoking would have been out of order. In 
Harper's Monthly^ Vol. 25, p. 2)Z^^ 1862, there is a 
notice of this club. * 

I must now go back some years to my earlier pas- 
toral life, for I am recording these events as they 
occur to my mind, without observing any order or 
chronological sequence, and hence I may be found 
repeating or enlarging upon some facts already 
mentioned. When I came to Baltimore in 1827 
English Lutheranism waSeUot known, and the peo- 
ple who talked about it judged us by the standard 
of piety held by the German Church. I will not 
say there were no good people in that church, but 
they were not demonstrative in their piety. They 

* " Dr. Wynne, in a sketch of John P. Kennedy in the above 
mentioned Harper's Monthly^ says : * I saw most of Kennedy 
while his townsman in Baltimore at a literary club, of which 
we were both members, composed of four doctors of medicine, 
four doctors of divinity, and four gentlemen distinguished for 
literary attainments. This club, styled the Monday Club, met 
alternately at the house of the various members in the winter, 
and during its existence was the most agreeable re-union in 
Baltimore, and was almost certain to command the presence of 
any distinguished stranger who chanced to be in town. Ken- 
nedy was the most constant in his attendance, and, with the 
exception of Dr. Morris, a Lutheran divine, was perhaps the 
best talker.'" 



112 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

did not ming-le with other Christians; they mani- 
fested no interest in the religious activities of the 
day; they were not recognized as a working, Chris- 
tian people. When we came, bearing the same 
name, we were estimated by the same rule, and of 
course we had little sympathy until we became bet- 
ter known. In some places we are suffering from 
the same cause to-day. 

I had but few active, working men, and they were 
not young men, and hence not known among the 
workers in religious societies. I suffered consider- 
ably from this source. 

Some of my people were tainted with Methodist 
emotionalism, which was cherished to a much greater 
extent at that day than this, even among that people 
themselves. Not that any of my members felt dis- 
posed to join that church, but they thought that style 
of religion was preferable to our staid orthodox faith 
and unostentatious practice. They seemed to think 
that piety consisted more in feeling than in godly 
living. This gave me some trouble at first, but I 
finally brought them round to the sober gospel. An 
eminent Episcopal minister, who subsequently be- 
came bishop, told me the same was true of his con- 
gregation when he took charge some years before me. 

I held private prayer-meetings with them, and 
the efforts of some of them to pray were awkward 
enough; but the most of them improvised, and 
almost from the beginning I had a goodly number 
who took part in that exercise. It was something 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. II3 

altogether new that a Lutheran should * * pray in 
public," and hence we were called " Methodists" 
by some- who did not wish us well. This was kept 
up for many years in private houses, and on Sunday 
morning in the lecture-room in the church. In the 
course of time a female prayer-meeting, conducted 
by my godly wife, was also established, which was 
maintained for many years. My first catechetical 
class was begun about a month after my settlement, 
and 48 young people were present. This was en- 
couraging. I confirmed ten of them after three 
months' instruction. 

My first communion was held on Whitsunday, 
June — , 1827, and there were 40 communicants. 
Most of them had been confirmed in the German 
Church, in town or elsevv'here. Some were people 
who had moved to town from other places. 

On November 21, 1827, I was married to Miss 
Eliza Hay, of York, Pa., and immediately went to 
housekeeping on a salary of $500 a year. I do not 
mean to say that I lived on that amount, for I paid 
a rent of several hundred dollars out of it. My sal- 
ary never exceeded $1,500 a year and the parsonage 
that was afterwards built. My perquisites never 
amounted to over $300, so I can safely say that in 
thirty-three years of my ministry in that church I 
paid out of my private income more than $15,000 for 
the privilege of preaching the gospel to that people. 
I was compelled to be liberal in my donations, as 
well as to * * entertain strangers " to an unlimited 
8 



114 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

number. When I resigned, in i860, they made me 
a present of $1,000, but I had previously spent of 
my own money for building an addition to the par- 
sonage, by which I secured a small room for a study, 
which I had not before. 

I thus proceeded amid hard work and many diffi- 
culties to build up my church. I spent much time 
upon my sermons, and kept up a constant system of 
reading. I went to see my people often, and when- 
ever I observed that strangers attended my church 
twice in succession I would enquire who they were, 
and if I was told that they belonged to no church I 
went to see them, but I did not intrude myself upon 
them. I timidly told them who I was, and as I had 
seen them twice in our church, and hearing that 
they had no other church connection, I ventured 
upon a visit to them. I was always politely received, 
and in not a few instances the result was happy. 

I made it a matter of conscience never to interfere 
with another man's work. It is mean and unprin- 
cipled to try to wheedle or steal away another min- 
ister's members. There are some who are wicked 
enough to do it. A very pretentious chap once set- 
tled in Old Town, when I was temporary pastor of 
the Third church, who boasted that in a year the 
half of my congregation would join his, and he even 
had the consummate effrontery to ask one of my 
elders to leave us and go with him. In two years 
this clerical popinjay was completely used up, and 
was compelled to leave his fine new place of worship 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. II5 

and go, he knew not where. He joined some other 
denomination and passed into oblivion. Some few, 
who call themselves Lutheran, are duped to leave 
the church of their fathers, though they may have 
been well cared for; but I have found that usually 
pride or selfishness is at the bottom of it, and in 
most cases they soon wish themselves home again. 
I remember losing two men because I would not 
sanction their unedifying attempts at exhortation, 
and because they could not succeed in being elected 
to church offices. They went where one of them 
soon became a lay preacher and the other a class 
leader, but neither ever amounted to anything. 

A year after my settlement I had so secured the 
confidence of some of the religious societies, and 
among them the Bible Society, that I was sent to 
Frederick and Hagerstown to enlist the co-operation 
of the societies in those places in our design of 
furnishing every family in the State with the copy 
of the Scriptures. A committee began the work of 
exploration in Frederick during my visit, and the 
Rev. Mr. Schaeffer, of our Church, on hearing that 
they intended passing by his house, well knowing 
that he had Bibles in various languages, insisted 
upon their coming and seeing for themselves. This 
he did for the purpose of preventing superficial work 
on the part of the committee, and also to give them 
a reason for going to the house of the Romish priest. 
This priest attacked me and the whole work. I went 
to hear his denunciation on Sunday afternoon, but 



il6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

it amounted to nothing more than the usual jargon 
about a mistranslated Protestant Bible. He said he 
would favor a distribution of the Douay Bible, which 
of course he never did. I took notes of his harangue, 
which I afterwards gave to the Rev. Dr. Johns, 
Episcopal minister, afterwards bishop, and in ten 
days after I received a pamphlet in which the priest's 
arguments were all refuted. He never replied. 

Exclusively English churches were very rare when 
I began my work. In our prominent cities there 
were none but Mr. Bachman's in Charleston, Mr. 
Mayer's in Philadelphia, Mr. Mayer's, in Albany, 
and mine. There were others in the interior of 
New York, one or two in Maryland, Virginia, and 
perhaps in North Carolina ; not more than a dozen, 
I presume. Let it be remembered that at this time 
there were not more than 250 or 300 Lutheran min- 
isters in the whole country, but now (1895) there are 
over 5,000. 

The mode of worship in all our churches in which 
English was preached exclusively or occasionally was 
framed pretty much after the plain Presbyterian 
style. There was no such thing as we call liturgy, 
although in a few of the German churches there was 
a slight semblance of it. For a long time there was 
a desire expressed to reform our bald and spiritless 
mode of worship, and several liturgies were prepared 
by committees, but none met with general ac- 
ceptance. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. II7 

ORDINATION. 

I ^Yas ordained at a synodical meeting- in Freder- 
ick in 1827, just one year after being licensed, which 
was quite unusual, and at the next meeting of Synod, 
at Shepherdstown, 1828, I was elected a Director of 
the Seminary at Gettysburg, being the youngest man 
in it, and at the same time I was chosen a member 
of the ensuing General Synod. At its meeting in 
Hagerstown, in 1829, they elected me Secretary, I 
served as a Director of the Seminary for many years 
in succession, as well as Trustee of the College at 
Gettysburg. In 1843 I was elected President of the 
General Synod, which met in my church in Balti- 
more, and just forty years afterwards, in 1883, I held 
the same office at the meeting in Springfield, Ohio. 

The Observer^ when it got into the hands of Dr. 
Kurtz, vigorously opposed every approximation to 
responsive liturgy, chanting and clerical gowns; but 
the liturgical interest finally prevailed, and resulted 
in the adoption of that which was extensively, but 
far from universally, adopted by English ministers 
of the General Synod. Many others would have 
liked to introduce it, but it could not be done with- 
out creating excitement in their churches. The 
wish of many, it seems, is to be as much like every 
other neighboring sect as possible, thus losing their 
individuality, and of course the esteem of all others ; 
for that church that merges its life in the general 
heterogeneous mass around, and abandons its an- 
cestral memories, merely to be like others, loses its 
own, as well as the respect of its neighbors. 



Il8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I know it is not an easy thing to introduce the full 
liturgy in an old established church. There will be 
the cry of innovation, but, led by a judicious use of 
parts of it, and a gradual introduction of the whole, 
on some occasions, will insure it success. The most 
effectual mode, however, is its use in the Sunday- 
schools, where the pupils and teachers will become 
accustomed to it, and reasonable parents will not 
oppose it ; and this, I am glad to know, is practiced 
to a great extent. For more than fifty years this 
subject came up in the General Synod; the commit- 
tee reported a form, which was discussed for several 
hours, and then was postponed until the next meet- 
ing, much to the relief of those opposed to a full lit- 
urgy. What is strange and unbecoming, is that men 
who would not introduce a liturgical form of worship 
into their churches, even if one were adopted, are 
most active in the adoption of one, and have been 
conspicuous members of committees. Perhaps some 
of them are personally favorable, but they fear their 
congregations would not be, and hence hold back at 
home, whilst at Synod they speak and vote in favor 
of it. The action of the General Synod of 1885 was 
more decisive ; a liturgy proposed by a committee 
of the General Council, the General Synod South 
and our General Synod, was adopted, but I doubt 
whether it will be generally introduced. 

In my verdancy, when I first came to Baltimore, I 
expected that some of the young anglicised Germans, 
who joined no other church, and some who had, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. II9 

would cast their lot with us. I was disappointed. 
Very few of them came, except the children of those 
parents who came, but none, or very few, whose 
fathers and mothers still, continued with the old 
Church. I was compelled to depend upon strangers, 
or wait until our cause became more popular, or 
prejudices were removed, or opposition ceased. My 
church and people wxre too obscure and unfashion- 
able to make it the advantage of gay young people 
to join us, but still I received quite a number of 
young people who had not settled in other churches. 
Among the names of the communicants of the first 
four or five years there are not over a dozen of per- 
sons whose parents or near relations had not been 
brought up in the German church in Baltimore or 
in the country ; only four or five whose parents still 
belonged to the old German church, but were so 
completely English as not to understand German ; 
there are a dozen or so names of persons who are 
not of German origin at all, and never were in con- 
nection with any Lutheran church before, but who 
fell in with us because they liked us. Of the large 
number, however, of Am^ericanized young Germans 
who had strayed away from the old Church, and 
whose parents still held a nominal connection with 
it, there were very few who cast their lot with us. 

We have great reason to complain that so many 
of our people have stra3^ed away to other churches, 
but it is comforting to know that a large number 
from other churches, or ' ' from the world, "as it is 



I20 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

called, have joined us. Every English name in our 
churches is a gain. There are no original Luther- 
ans with English, Scotch or Irish names in this 
country. Now it is a question worth considering, 
which are the most numerous, those of our own 
people whom we lose, or those of English name 
whom we gain? I know it is said that some Episco- 
pal churches are almost entirely msAe up of stray 
Lutherans. I am satisfied, after some investigation 
in Baltimore at least, that this is a gross exaggera- 
tion. There are some families of ours here and 
there, and some ambitious young people, to be 
found in other churches; but I am convinced that 
the number is not as large as represented, though 
still larger than it should be, and further, that there 
are not as many defections now as there were some 
years ago. Just in proportion as good English 
preaching is introduced among us, and an efficient 
ministry exercises its functions, and our churches 
become enlightened and prosperous, the " depart- 
ures ' ' diminish. 

Some years ago I made a careful comparison be- 
tween the number of our ministers leaving us and 
the number of ordained ministers of other churches 
joining our Synods. The latter was the larger, 
though, excepting a few cases, the loss was not to 
be deplored, nor the gain to be commended. (See 
''Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry," p. 382.) 

Those young ministers who take charge of English 
churches in cities, or establish new ones and expect 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 121 

to build them up for the most part by accessions 
from the German churches, for the most part will 
be disappointed, except in neighborhoods where 
there is no other English church, and where the 
German young people are numerous. The German 
pastors generally oppose "the founding of English 
churches, and by their influence many of their young 
people are kept away; but still there are cases in 
which energetic efforts succeed in building up 
churches composed for the most part of young Ger- 
man members, who, when well and properly trained, 
make good members. Our English Lutheran 
churches receive fewer from the " Missourians " 
than from other German churches, although their 
young members generally speak better English than 
German. But the most strenuous efforts are made 
to keep them away; and severe church discipline is 
threatened, if not exercised. Unless the Missourians 
form English churches, the third generation of their 
members will be lost to them, and I fear to the 
Church entirely. 

It was only after Father J. Daniel Kurtz resigned 
his place in the old church, and moved up town, 
that he and his family (excepting his son) came to 
my church, and they all continued active members 
of the English church until their death. On my 
resignation they went with St. Mark's people, in the 
communion of which they died. The old gentleman 
died before I left Lexington street. Two of his 
grandchildren had joined us some years before. 



122 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

My reading during my ministry was somewhat 
miscellaneous, and I always had one, sometimes 
two, books on hand, to be read at different times. 
I always thought that variety was good ; one solid 
and another lighter book. I thus mingled theology, 
biography, history, biology and periodical literature. 
I was a diligent, but not a hard reader ; some people 
thought so, but I knew better, and yet I did not idle 
away any time. I took long walks into the country 
for exercise, and was always ready for my Sunday 
work by Saturday noon, so that I might have Satur- 
day afternoon for myself. I once stated this fact to 
a Presbyterian minister, who thought it capital, and 
said he would adopt it and no longer sit up late on 
Saturday night to prepare his sermons, and per- 
haps sometimes be writing the amen when the 
church bells were ringing on Sunday morning. 

There was no Simday-school when I came, but we 
immediately established one. Upon the death of 
our first superintendent, John A. Bentz, it came into 
the hands of Dr. Wm. A. Kemp, who for over 30 
years conducted it, and the continuation of it at 
St. Mark's, most efficiently and faithfully. 

There were several seasons of special religious 
interest in the old " Revival " or " New Measure " 
times. As the result of one of these meetings I 
once confirmed 80 persons. Some of them were 
admitted in the midst of the excitement, and with 
little religious experience or instruction, and not a 
few fell away. Others continue to this day. This 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 23 

"revival " system, as it was called, has fallen into 
desuetude, although it was very generally practiced 
many years ago. None practice it at present except 
the Methodists, and man}^ of their ministers disap- 
prove of it. I would be far from sa3^ing that no 
good whatever resulted from it, but I do know that 
when carried to an extravagant extent, as was done 
in many places, it distracted congregations, created 
dissension among members, and aroused opposition 
to the minister. The system would not be tolerated 
now in many places where it was once very popular. 
The word of God abideth the same forever, but is it 
too bold to assume that God may sanction the demon- 
stration of it at some times and places by the emplo}"- 
ment of peculiar ways and measures which He would 
not approve of at other times and places? I do not 
believe that it is the unbelief of the people that has 
stopped the ' ' revival ' ' system, but that God now 
employs a less demonstrative plan cf carrying on 
His work. 

Some of the most efficient members who were 
brought in, of non-Lutheran parentage or name, 
were men whose children having died I had been in- 
vited to bury, through the instrumentality of some of 
my own members. There was one cf them, lately 
deceased, a faithful, godly man, who v^^as perfectly 
churchless and careless. He lost a child ; a friend of 
his, and a member of my congregation, requested me, 
for his sake, to officiate at the funeral. "My remarks 
so impressed the parents, who were then young, that 



124 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

they both began coming to church, and in a short 
time both applied for membership ; they were con- 
firmed, and the father and the daughter, when she 
grew up (the mother is deceased), became most 
active workers in the church. I mention this fact 
just to show what effect a few words dropped at a 
funeral may have, and that a minister does not 
always spend his time in vain by serving people who 
have no claim upon him. 

I have read of one eminent preacher who main- 
tained that preaching funeral sermons, and I suppose 
he included discourses in the house of mourning 
before the interment, was lost time; but I do not 
think so, if the service is properly, and not m.echan- 
ically, done. But I will not here enter upon the 
discussion. I will only remark that from the per- 
functory manner in which it is often don.e I have no 
doubt it is lost time to both preachers and hearers. 

There is much of this '* outside " w^ork done by 
some city m.inisters. People who are not church 
members, and not even in the habit of going to 
church, nor of contributing to its support, seem to 
think they have as much right to a minister's serv- 
ices as anybody else. I have attended more funerals 
and performed other clerical services for others than 
for my own people, and without compensation or 
even recognition; and thus it is with some others. 
I know one city minister of our own Church who has 
an immense Sunday-school, for the niost part com- 
posed of children of outsiders, very few of v/hom 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 25 

ever go to church, but they all call upon him for any 
service they may want done ; and the result is that 
he has an enormous amount of work on hand, for 
which, in many instances, he does not even receive 
thanks. He is a diligent worker, and does not seem 
to groan under his heavy burden. 

Years ago I gave a series of Sunday night lectures 
on the Evidences of Christianity, which I thoroughly 
studied. I devoted several of them to the objections 
which unbelievers make, and stated them strongly, 
so that my triumph in refuting them might be the 
more impressive. Against this my cousin, who 
came to my church every Sunday night, advised and 
argued that among my hearers there were doubtless 
some who were not firmly established in the faith, 
and who, hearing these objections for the first time, 
would cling to them, and would not be convinced by 
my soundest argument. In other words, that Satan 
would take advantage of their inexperience and per- 
suade them that I had put a powerful weapon into 
their hand. They would feel the force of the objec- 
tion, but would not appreciate that of the refutation. 

I think he was right, for I do not believe that ser- 
mons on this subject, before an uneducated audience, 
are of any benefit. The living, practical power of 
the gospel is the best argument in favor of its divine 
origin, and if that is forcibly demonstrated and 
practiced there will be no need of external reason- 
ing, which, if not well put, will do more harm than 
good. 



126 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

During m}- earlier ministry, haA^ng no colleague 
of our own Cliurcli to associate with on familiar 
terms (Father J. Daniel Kurtz * was already too old 
a man to be the companion of a " boy minister, " 
and U hlhorn not being precisely to my taste, though 
one of the most brilliant men I ever met), I became 
the almost daily associate of the Rev. John M. Dun- 
can, a very eloquent divine of the Reformed Presby- 
terian church in Fayette street, where the Rev. Mr. 
Leyburn afterward so successfully labored. Though 
Duncan was much older than I, yet we took to each 
other very kindl}'. He was avoided by the few 
Presbyterian clergy, and I had no brother Lutheran 
clerics, and so we suited well together. I did not 
consider him exactly orthodox on some points, but 
we did not allow our differences to interfere with 
our social relations. I had not then recovered from 
my country timidity and bashfulness, and as he was 
the most prominent pastor in the city, I seldom ven- 
tured to oppose his peculiar views. He was not a 
scholar in the modem sense, nor a well-read theo- 
logian outside of his own school, but he was a pow- 
erful preacher, who, for many years, drew large 
crowds of hearers, and outside of the Presbyterian 
church he was a very popular man. He was the 
nephew and namesake and pupil of the celebrated 
New York divine, and afterwards President of Dick- 
inson College, John Mason, whose name adorns my 
diploma. He was trained in the strictest Calvinistic 

*See my " Fifty Years," p. 21. 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 27 

school, but later in life abandoned it, and was ex- 
cluded from the Synod for some alleged nn- Presby- 
terian doctrine, but a majority of his people still 
clung to him, and after a long trial in the courts the 
retention of the church property was awarded to the 
Duncan party. It was at this trial that I for the 
first tim.e heard the celebrated lawyer Mr. Wirt, who 
concluded his defense of Duncan's party by quoting 
from Macbeth those famous lines: 

"Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties 
So meek," etc. 

It had a powerful effect, and the audience in the 
court-room vociferously applauded. 

I was not as intimate with John Breckenridge, my 
former tutor at Princeton, and who was pastor of the 
Second Presbyterian church when I came here, as I 
was with his brother, Robert J., who succeeded him 
some years after. He was a very remarkable man, 
and one of the ablest that ever occupied a Baltimore 
pulpit. He conducted a monthly magazine, in 
which he severely exposed the errors of popery. A 
man named Maguire, the keeper of the almshouse, 
conceived himself officially assaulted, and was per- 
suaded to prosecute Breckenridge for defamation. 
The trial excited great interest, but after it had pro- 
ceeded to a considerable extent, and after Brecken- 
ridge 's counsel was heard, the State abandoned the 
prosecution. The State's attorne}^ was Geo. R. 
Richardson, of whom I have previously spoken as 
my fellow-student at Princeton college, llv. Pres- 



125 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ton, of Kentucky, and brother-in-law of Brecken- 
ridge, and Mr. Crittenden, both United States Sen- 
ators from that State, were present one day, and the 
latter addressed the Court. 

I heard afterwards that a note of sympathy and 
encouragement which I had addressed to Brecken- 
ridge during the trial was highly valued by him. 

ANTI-POPERY. 

About these times there was a widespread excite- 
ment on the subject of popery, and many Protestant 
ministers wrote and preached against it. Through 
the influence of a Presbyterian minister of this city, 
though not a pastor, a meeting of clergymen was 
called to organize a regular crusade against Roman- 
ism. The design was to preach sermons and to cir- 
culate writings on the subject. The meeting was 
pretty well attended, and a plan of operation was 
proposed. I had not much confidence in it, for the 
reason that the Romanists would not come to hear 
our discourses and our own people did not require 
any special instruction on this subject, for they were 
in no danger of apostasy to Rome ; but particularly 
I soon discerned what I should have known before, 
that none of the men who attended the meeting, 
except two or three, had ever studied the subject, and 
that their harangues would do the cause more harm 
than good. They were in no sense familiar with the 
controversy, and had never read any book attacking 
or defending Rome, and were not even acquainted 
with the titles of books treating of this matter. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 29 

Nothing was done, although the sermons of a few 
of US were strongly spiced with anti-Romanism for 
some time. For myself I have so acquired the habit 
that I seldom let pass an opportunity of giving 
Romanism a hit, but it is done mildly and kindly. 

About this time I published a sermon on " The 
Necessity of the Reformation, ' ' which was violently 
attacked by the Romish press here, and which created 
considerable sensation. 

The only other minister not of our Church with 
whom I was intimate in my earlier years was the 
Rev. Albert Helfenstein, of the German Reformed 
Church, then situated in Second street, and which 
was known as The Town-Clock Church. He was a 
man of blameless life, but not successful as a 
preacher. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. 
Heiner, who revived the expiring church, but died 
before he was fifty. After several colonies had 
gone out of my church, and called pastors, I of 
course had associates of our own faith, with all of 
whom, ever since the first one came, I have lived in 
perfect harmony, except perhaps with one who was 
afterwards expelled. After the Rev. B. Kurtz came 
to Baltimore, in 1833, to edit the LutJieran Observer^ 
which I gave into his hands, and which he success- 
fully edited for many years, although his Luth- 
eranism did not suit my taste, we worked together 
for the most part very pleasantly. He was a hard 
man to preach to — impatient, often inattentive, and 
always severe in his judgment on my sermons. He 
9 



130 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

once most in judiciously attempted to found another 
English church without ever saying a word to me 
about it, and I only heard of it after he had com- 
menced. I do not think that his own judgment 
heartily approved of it, but I have reason to think he 
was urged on by a disaffected and troublesome mem- 
ber of my own church. He opened a preaching 
place in an upper room at the corner of Gay and 
Baltimore streets, but soon abandoned it for want of 
encouragement. He was the last man who should 
have undertaken such an enterprise : he was not in 
robust health; he had not the time nor the dispo- 
sition to carry on such a work ; he had not the social 
nor pecuniary backing such an undertaking in a city 
requires; he had not the sympathy, much less the 
prayers of anybody, except those of one man. It 
was an inconsiderate project, and soon utterly failed. 
He never alluded to it afterwards. The failure was 
humiliating, and no doubt he was ashamed of it all 
his days subsequently. He was a strong man in 
many respects, but a very broad school Lutheran, 
besides which other influences, adverse to our sys- 
tem, were brought to bear upon him, and the result 
was that after the death of his son, Theophilus, not a 
single one of his children or grandchildren attended 
the Lutheran Church. With the Observer under his 
control, Dr. Kurtz was for many years an acknowl- 
edged power in the Church. He had a large follow- 
ing among the ministers and laymen, and always 
advocated a high standard of practical piety. The 



i 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 13I 

generation over which he exercised so much influ- 
ence is nearly gone; a few linger, but everyone, I 
believe, has abandoned the church polity and dogma 
he so strongly defended. Other men have come 
upon the stage, and their more churchly views are 
now maintained. 

For many years my most intimate clerical associate 
in town was the Rev. Dr. Dalrymple, of the Epis- 
copal church, a fair classical scholar and a genial 
gentleman. In theology he was a very low church- 
man, and on the sacraments especially a Zwinglian. 
He was a bachelor, with some queer ways, and kept 
a fine establishment ; he was a man of profuse hos- 
pitality and sociable temperament. He had the 
largest private library in the city, and yet he was 
not what we call a student. He was not even a 
close reader, but kept his books as ornaments, and 
was extremely careful in their preservation. He, 
Philip Tyson, and I traveled together for years in 
succession to the meetings of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, and enjoyed 
each other's company vastly. He died in 1881. 

During the last few years the ministers of our 
churches in town have been young men for the most 
part. They were very active as pastors, and gener- 
ally they were successful. Very few of them had 
time to prosecute any special course of study, but I 
believe they carefully prepared their sermons. They 
had little time for mere social visiting, and I had 
very little time to enjoy it. 



132 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

This would seem to be the place to mention the 
fact that I have never had any personal controversy 
worth mentioning with any of my clerical brethren. 
There has been coldness of intercourse with a few, 
but it never degenerated into personal rancor or 
complete alienation. With two men who treated 
me very unkindly after doing them favors I have 
had no social intercourse for some years. They do 
not live here, and I seldom meet them. God for- 
give them for their unkind conduct towards me. 
Among the many who have attacked me, and most 
of whom I have never noticed, I will make refer 
ence, as an example of an odd controversialist, to 
one who fiercely assailed my ' ' Fifty Years. ' ' I 
gently corrected a few of his errors. He wrote to 
me that he had something more to say, and begged 
me to let him have the last word ! ! ! I promised not 
to notice him, so that he '' might enjoy the triumph 
of having silenced me. ' ' I knew well enough that 
the more severely he abused the book the more 
readily it would sell, and it gave me pleasure to 
allow him such a cheap enjoyment, for the poor, 
* ' underrated ' ' soul had not much of any other kind. 
I was told that this same man attacked me in a 
western paper ten years afterwards. 

I once had occasion to call an impulsive but I 
believe honest minister to account for a remark he 
made seriously affecting me. He vehemently disa- 
vowed any evil design, expressed deep regret for 
having given me any uneasiness, made apologetic 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 33 

explanations, and begged pardon for his indiscretion. 
I was satisfied, and we are good friends. 

Most ministers complain of the difficulty of im- 
parting enough of interest to their week-day services 
to attract their own members to the meetings. I 
believe that this is a universal complaint. I have 
tried various expedients; one was to invite written 
questions and answer them. This did well for a 
time, but by and by questions of an objectionable 
or personal character came in, and the design was 
frustrated. I once undertook to explain difficult 
passages of the Bible, and that succeeded pretty 
well for a time. I lectured on the geography and 
natural history of the Scriptures, and various other 
methods were temporarily employed. That which 
brought most people together was propounding a 
question and inviting members to express their 
opinions upon it. This brought out some sensible 
remarks, but sometimes incompetent persons would 
annoy us with their ill-digested talk, and sometimes 
we had a regular theological controversy. I believe 
the best plan after all is faithfully to preach the old- 
fashioned gospel. 

FIRST CORNER-STONE. 

The first corner-stone I ever assisted at laying 
was that of St. Matthew's, in New street, Philadel- 
phia, under the pastoral care of the Rev. C. P. 
Krauth, Sr. , and the first consecration sermon I ever 
preached was in that church when finished, on July 



134 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

1 8, 1830. I have spoken of this gentleman before, 
and shall have occasion to mention him again. I 
would never grow weary of lauding his exalted vir- 
tues. He and I lived together on most fraternal 
terms until he died. We loved each other as broth- 
ers. He was a man of brilliant mind, and he had a 
wonderful faculty of acquiring knowledge. During 
his residence in Philadelphia of many years he was 
a most industrious reader, but too miscellaneous, 
and he remembered everything he read. It was 
only after he went to Gettysburg that he applied 
himself to those branches which he taught. As a 
teacher he was too indulgent, of which some of his 
not too industrious pupils took advantage. 

STUDENTS IN MY HOUSE. 

During my long pastorate I had as pupils in their 
preparatory course several young men to whom I 
shall allude here. The first was Charles A. Hay, 
for many years professor at Gettysburg in the Semi- 
nary. The whole Church knows his character as a 
teacher, as a gentleman, and as an active Christian. 
His attainments in his department of theological 
science were extensive, and his success as a teacher 
in his earlier years is now acknowledged by all his 
pupils. He was a modest, unpretending man, whose 
sterling qualities were universally known and es- 
teemed. 

There was another man who for several years was 
a pensioner upon my bounty, but he never succeeded 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 35 

in our ministry, either as teacher or preacher. He 
failed lamentably in both spheres. He was unhappy 
in several other relations, and left tis for another 
church " for a consideration!" He was helped out 
of some difficulties, and paid his benefactors by the 
offer of his services, which were accepted. My 
brothers and I ^pent more than $i,ooo in bringing 
this man out, but he accomplished nothing. The 
reason why we took him up was that his mother had 
been a nurse and " help " in my mother's family for 
many years, and took care cf me when I was a child. 

I took another young man off a tailor's bench, 
and supported him until he was fit to go to Gettys- 
burg, where my church maintained him for several 
years. He was then an humble, promising boy. But 
he never advanced as a preacher, and was employed 
in teaching in female seminaries. After he ran a 
career among us he " departed," not exactly out of 
this life, but into the Episcopal church, of which he 
was a lay member. He became a merchant in a 
neighboring city. I met his brother-in-law in 1895, 
who told me that he died many years ago, but, he 
added, ' ' he never amounted to anything. ' ' 

Disappointed ambition plays the mischief with 
some of these fellows who have no grace in their 
hearts and no brains in their skulls. Some of them 
are vain enough to think themselves entitled to high 
consideration, and when they do not receive it, be- 
cause unworthy of it, they behave themselves un- 
seemly. They complain of not being * ' appreciated. ' ' 



136 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I once had another chap in my house for over nine 
months, who had a Scotch name, but his mother 
being a plain Pennsylvania country girl, this boy 
acquired from her a broad half- German accent. I 
soon got tired teaching him the elements of educa- 
tion. My folks at home nursed him through an attack 
of measles, but he never had grace enough to say 
"thank you." He is now somewhere in the west, 
but not in our ministry. 

I had still another young man with me for several 
years who was well educated. He was licensed by 
our Synod, and held one or two good places, but was 
led away by some delusive inventions which he fool- 
ishly thought he had made, and from which he hoped 
to accumulate an immense fortune. He strayed off 
to a foreign country, where he died in poverty. 

TEACHING. 

I never taught school in my life, and never filled 
the exalted position of teacher as a profession, un- 
less my lectureship at Gettysburg may be thus re- 
garded. I have taught some men privately, but 
without compensation, and had a number of pupils 
in elocution and a few other branches, which was 
more pleasure than labor. 

Some years ago I was prevailed upon to give les- 
sons in Hebrew to some young men in town who 
were not students of theology. We met early in the 
morning, and continued it for some weeks, but most 
of them grew tired of it and would not study, and I 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I37 

refused to attend any longer. I had two other 
students in Hebrew, one a candidate for the Presby- 
terian church, who afterwards for many years served 
a church in Washington, w^here he died, and the 
other was a candidate for the Episcopal ministry, 
who became a worthy and influential divine in Vir- 
ginia. I had made considerable progress in Hebrew, 
but unhappily, like too many others, I neglected it 
in after life. I usually carried with me a neat little 
Hebrew Psalter, and read it diligently while travel- 
ing and at other times, but that also gradually was 
given up. I ceased to be a daily reader of the 
Hebrew Scriptures, which I now very much regret. 
The copy of the Hebrew Psalter I gave to the Rev. 
Dr. Brown, of Gettysburg. 

I once took a few lessons from an unwashed 
" wandering Jew," who I found knew very little of 
the grammar, and he soon ran away from his board- 
ing house, forgetting to pay his bill, and also forget- 
ting to return a fine copy of Buxtorf 's Dictionary 
which I had loaned him. 

A foreign Romish priest advertised for pupils. 
I went to him several times, but soon found that I 
knew more Hebrew than he did. He could not 
analyze a single word, nor could he translate a 
single passage in Genesis without the help of a 
modem version. I sent him $5 and quit, after two 
or three hours of lost time spent with this wretched 
humbug. 

For several months one winter I met five or six 



138 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

highly educated ladies, and read German with them. 
Several of them, having studied it previously, read 
Schiller pretty well. 

DIFFICULTIES. 

Like other pastors, I presume, I had my difficul- 
ties and drawbacks, arising from various causes. 
Lack of success was one, and yet I never had reason 
to complain for lack of Sunday hearers, although I 
had sent off two colonies. My difficulties and dis- 
couragements arose from the objectionable conduct 
of some of my members, the lack of interest in the 
higher spiritual life in many of them, the lack of 
liberality in their contributions to church objects, 
their indisposition to personal effort in church work, 
the absence of refined fraternal affection in some, 
the meagreness of my support, the absence of many 
from the usual week-night service, and many other 
reasons which need not be specified. 

I never got into any personal difficulty with any 
of them until the breaking out of the rebellion, of 
which I shall speak hereafter, but J once gave 
irreconcilable offence to a family by marrying some 
parties connected with those families to whom they 
objected. On one occasion of this kind several 
valuable young men, closely related to a party I 
married, left my church, although there was a sub- 
sequent reconciliation. They never forgave me. 
They had no ground of offence but pride, and I 
never regretted what I did. The party brought 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 39 

into the family by the marriage was as good as they 
were any day. Sometimes a member or two w^onld 
leave me without any ostensible cause, but on ex- 
amination I would discover that there was some 
young man or woman in the case, or family pride. 
Sometimes the arrival or settlement of a popular 
preacher in town would draw off, for a while at 
least, some of the lighter material ; but in the course 
of time they would come back again, finding that 
the solid gospel bread of the old home was, after 
all, the most nourishing. 

When Fuller, the eminent Baptist preacher, came 
here, he had large audiences and created great sen- 
sation. He was a strong man, and an effective pul- 
pit orator. Whilst his church was in course of erec- 
tion some of us ministers invited him to our pulpits 
as an act of courtesy to a stranger of distinction, but 
he was careful not to say anything about his Bap- 
tistic notions. When he got his new church then he 
began and turned the heads of some people who 
submitted to immersion. I had no trouble on this 
account, except with one family, of which two very 
weak sisters were somewhat infected with the error, 
but they did not leave us. I was requested by some 
of my people to preach one or two sermons on the 
subject of immersion. I studied it thoroughly, and 
wrote every word. After preaching once or twice I 
never had any trouble afterwards. Everybody was 
satisfied that our mode was Scriptural, and w^e had 
peace. 



140 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Dr. Fuller was a sociable gentleman, of mild and 
agreeable manners. He narrated a little incident 
to me, which I think worth inserting here. In 
his younger days he once preached to a country 
congregation as a visitor, on which occasion the 
nabob of the county, Col. Blank, was present. 
When Fuller descended from the pulpit the Colonel 
advanced towards him with tears streaming down 
his face, and threw his arms around the preacher's 
neck, and amid sobs and deep penitential sighs 
hailed him as the instrument of leading him to 
Christ, professing his faith in the strongest lan- 
guage, and declaring his purpose to lead a godly 
life. The preacher was delighted at the sudden 
and remarkable conversion of so influential a gen- 
tleman, and welcomed him most cordially, but he 
was surprised that the happy event created no ex- 
citement or even any uncommon interest in the peo- 
ple. On returning to his lodgings in the carriage of 
his host, he was the more surprised that no allusion 
whatever was made to it. He at length opened the 
subject himself, and spoke in raptures of the con- 
version of Col. Blank. The only reply he received 
was, and it was a damper, * * Oh, we have often wit- 
nessed that scene; he always acts it when he is 
drunk ! ' ' Fuller collapsed. 

The most humiliating experience I ever had arose 
from the wicked conduct of a man whom I received 
into the church by baptism. He had been trained 
among the Quakers, and was at this time connected 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I4I 

with an influential daily paper. He was respectably 
married, and had several children. He became a 
* * praying member ' ' and an active Sunday-school 
teacher. A few doubted his sincerity, for they had 
known him in business before his professed conver- 
sion. Less than a 3^ear after this man became an 
incendiary of several prominent public buildings, 
and to elude suspicion he set fire to his own printing 
office. He was never arrested for these crimes, but 
the universal belief was that he was the perpetrator. 
Some time after, he was apprehended in the act of 
purloining letters from the post-office, where he had 
free access as the manager of an influential daily 
paper. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
jail. After a short time President Van Buren par- 
doned him on condition that he would leave the 
country. It was given out that he went to South 
America, where it was said he died. There is 
reason to believe that his professed conversion was 
all a sham to cover up his iniquity. He selected my 
church as the stage on which he played his hypo- 
critical role because there were several of his rela- 
tives who were members of it, and whose good 
opinion it was important to him to secure, and 
besides I was intimate with him myself, for he did 
me some acts of kindness. This was the severest 
blow I ever received from a church difficulty. 

I never had any serious difficulties with my Coun- 
cil. We often differed, but amicably. With a few 
exceptions they were moderate and judicious men, 



142 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

who always treated me most respectfully. I never 
took any active part in the financial affairs of the 
church, it being a matter which, unfortunately, I 
did not understand, and with which, as a minister, 
I had nothing to do. I had no reason to leave the 
"Word of God and serve tables," and yet it is a 
grand qualification in a minister to have financial 
aptitude and business tact, but he has no occasion to 
exercise these gifts if he has a sensible and judicious 
Council. 

I have had, like most other men, some trouble- 
some men to deal w^ith. I remember one who had 
taken offence at me merely because I did not suc- 
cumb to his unreasonable demands, and he was de- 
termined to create a disturbance in the church, 
vainly presuming that he would have a following. 
One morning as I was preaching as usual he suddenly 
arose, left his pew, which was near the pulpit, 
walked out, making all the noise he could with his 
heavy tread. I took no notice of it, not knowing 
the cause of his sudden departure. He remained in 
the vestibule till church was out, and then began to 
speak harshly about me ; but not a man coincided 
with him, which mortified him to the quick. He 
continued to come to church, and by kind treat- 
ment he was won back again, and continued my fast 
friend until the rebellion broke out, when he and 
a few others became my bitter enemies, and did not 
speak to me as long as they lived. 

I have elsewhere said in this book that after I had 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I43 

resigned the First church I served sever other 
churches in town provisionally. On one occasion 
one of these churches had elected a minister, and I 
of course retired. Af:er I had preached my last 
sermon, on coming down the stairs in the midst of a 
dense crowd, one man said in a loud voice, so that 
he might be heard all round, and knowing too that 
I and another person dearer to me than my life 
would hear it, * * Well, thank God, it is his last. ' ' I 
would not have noticed it on my own account, but I 
regarded it as a deliberate insult to the cherished 
person with me. I left her in charge of a friend, 
and called to the man that I wanted to see him in 
the lecture-room immediately. I asked one or two 
friends to go with me, and the way I belabored that 
fellow with hard words, yet within moderation, was 
such a lesson as he never learned before. 

If I had paid any attention to the various reports 
I heard of what some said of me, and especially of 
each other, after I left the First church, I would 
have had nothing to do but to try to settle disputes 
and reconcile contending parties, but I kept aloof 
from all strife. Still it was some years before sev- 
eral of them looked kindly upon me. Their w^ll 
was not my will, and they would not sustain any 
man who would not follow their lead. 

One whole family left my church, which annoyed 
me considerably, but as it was not occasioned by any 
dissatisfaction with me I endured the loss calmly. 
The family was highly respectable, of increasing 



144 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

wealth, residing in what was then (1S52) a fashion- 
able part of the city, and aspiring to social position, 
which had not yet been attained. 

The plain fact is that my church was not fashion- 
able enough, nor did it contain the class of people 
whose society such persons affect, and hence the 
younger portion of the household gave their sober- 
minded and well-disposed parents no rest till they 
" took a pew " in a fashionable and influential 
church. The father had not been bora nor reared 
among us as a church people, but the mother was of 
Lutheran birth and training, and all her own family 
was closely associated with our Church. The father 
wrote me : " I beg you to understand that the step 
is not induced by any want of respect for or attach- 
ment to you; on the contrary, for yourself and 
family, as also the church, my regard is as it has 
been, the highest, and my every desire is for your 
success and prosperity. ' ' Everybody in and out of 
my church who was interested in the least degree in 
this affair, or who was acquainted with the persons, 
attributed it to what I would call social ambition, 
but I have been informed that success in that direc- 
tion was not secured. 

Occasionally an individual or two left my church, 
either led away by wives belonging to other churches 
whom they married, or by disappointment in not 
being elected into the Church Council, or by not 
"being made much of," or by an ambition to be- 
come ' ' leaders, " or by a desire to be among those 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I45 

v;lio depend mticli upon excitement. I remember 
two men who left us, who were otherwise fair men, 
but who wxre of ordinary minds and no education. 
I heard of them afterwards as being class leaders or 
local preachers, and thus their ambition was grati- 
fied. I believe one of them did not hold out long. 
I have no doubt that he aspired to something higher 
among the people he joined, and being disappointed 
became " soured " and " lost his religion." None 
of the backsliders from my church went to the Bap- 
tists or Romanists. 

One very fair man, extremely backward in edu- 
cation, and of no social influence whatever, but 
honest and truly pious, left my church because he 
had moved out of our bounds, and a Methodist 
church was near at hand, the people of which made 
a great deal of him, which flattered him vastly. He 
joined them, and was at once made an officer or 
class leader. He gave us the credit, however, of 
making a Christian of him, and, as I have heard, 
annoyed them by the everlasting repetition, when 
" giving his experience," of the account of an inter- 
view with me in my study late at night, when, as he 
said, he acquired new and clear views of Christian 
duty and doctrine. I meet him occasionally now, 
when he repeats the same story, and tells me he has 
often told it in class-meetings, which I can w^ell be- 
lieve. I also sometimes meet a Methodist brother, 
who never belonged to us, to whom it seems to be a 
pleasure to tell me whenever he meets me that his 
10 



146 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

mother was a Lutheran, and I always reply, " That's 
the reason why you are a pretty fair and respectable 
sort of a man now. " He agrees to it. 

I had difficulties of another character, and they 
arose out of my own preaching. Not a few persons 
congratulated me upon what they called my " self- 
possession," whereas they did not know that I was 
usually so abashed that I scarcely knew what I was 
saying and scared)^ dared to look people in the face. 
I have more than often half resolved never to face 
my people again from the pulpit, so wretchedly poor 
and weak was my preaching, even after good prepa- 
ration. I have sometimes been so utterly ashamed 
that I was almost afraid to give out the last hymn, 
and have left the church without venturing to speak 
to anybody, and expecting to hear that my services 
would no longer be required. I would go home, 
and on my knees beg God to give me some token by 
which 1 might know whether He wanted me in the 
pulpit an}^ longer, for I was sure that my people did 
not. Was this a temptation? or nervousness? or in- 
competency? And how doubly humiliating to be 
told sometimes that some of these discourses, which 
brought m.e down to the very dust in shame, were 
" fine," " impressive," " the very best we have had 
for some time. " Oh what wretched judges you are ! 
you cannot appreciate anything good ! you are con- 
trolled by your feelings and not by reason ! 

There was one period, soon after the wearisome 
controversy in the Observer on " New Measures," 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 147 

that some men, seconded by that paper, tried ' ' to 
write me down. ' ' I replied once or twice, when a 
few friends took it out of my hands and vigorousl)^ 
defended me. One of them was asked by a very 
conspicuous opponent of mine ' * how much he was 
paid for advocating my cause?" He was too amiable 
to ask in return what he thought, ' ' how much are 
you paid for letting loose your dogs upon him?" 

I did not escape the fate of men who take a con- 
spicuous part in church questions, and who fearlessly 
express their sentiments, and who will not submit to 
be governed by a leader. I never allow^ed men who 
treated me unkindly to know that I was aware of 
their ill feelings towards me, excepting in one or 
two cases, and I have had the satisfaction of doing a 
few of them some slight favors for which they asked. 
I wonder how such men feel when they are com- 
pelled to solicit acts of kindness of their brethren of 
whom they have spoken evil and whom they have 
tried to injure. 

I have patiently borne many injuries, and did not 
resent provoking injustice done me, because I was 
afraid of hardening the hearts of such men against 
the gospel. I thought it best to suffer rather than 
give occasion to men to find fault with it, which they 
would have done if I had betrayed any unchristian 
retaliation. Those to whom I especially allude are 
all dead- and may they have found pardon of God 
in their dying day ! 

I may have mentioned it before, but I have never 



148 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

been subpcxnaed to give testimony but twice in court ; 
one was to swear to the good character of a young 
man who was indicted in Baltimore County Court 
for some misdemeanor, and was acquitted, and the 
other was in a divorce case in Delaware. 

I once got into a slight difficulty for having un- 
guardedly uttered what everybody knew to be true, 
that a certain man who was a vestryman in a cer- 
tain church was an unbeliever. He heard of it, 
and threatened me with prosecution. A prominent 
lawyer, whom he had employed, sent for me to come 
to his office and stated his case, advising me that it 
would not do for me, a young minister, to engage 
in public litigation with men like his client, and that 
even if I could prove the allegation (which he knew 
well enough I could do) it w^ould produce an un- 
healthy and useless excitement. He proposed a 
method of settlement, to which I assented, and the 
matter was dropped. The astute lawyer was well 
aware that I had it in my power to show up his client 
in a way not favorable to his character. 

During a religious stir in my church, two young 
men, not originally Lutherans, thought that I was 
not zealous enough, and by that they meant that I 
did not encourage religious extravagance, that is, 
groanings of others during prayer, and loud amens. 
They tried to get up a party against me, but failed. 
They threatened to leave, but did not. They both 
lived to be old men, and although they ceased to wor- 
ship with us, they continued to be my strong friends. 



CHAPTER VI. 

EARI^Y HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN OBSERVER. 

I BEGAN scribbling for the newspapers even during 
my student life at Dickinson College, in 1822, where 
my first communication appeared in the Carlisle 
Volunteer. I never had the boyish vanity to mount 
the poetical Pegasus, and can say with a facetious 
friend of mine that ' ' he never wrote more than half 
a line of poetry, and there stuck. " I have continued 
to indulge this scribbling mania all through life, of 
which the pages of the Lutheran Observer and some 
other church papers, as well as those outside the 
Church, bear ample witness. 

BIRTH AND INFANCY OF THE LUTHERAN OBSERVER. 

When the Lutheran Lntelligencer, which had been 
published and edited in Frederick, Md., for five 
years by the Rev. D. F. Schaeffer, died in 1831, and 
the LiitJieran Magazine, edited by Dr. Lintner, in 
Schoharie, N. Y , had also breathed its last in 1830, 
there was no English paper in the Church from 
January, 1830, to August, 1831, a period of eighteen 
months — ''hiatus valde deflendus.'' This was a 
condition of things not to be endured. The Semi- 
(149) 



150 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

nary at Gettysburg had already been in operation 
four 5^ears; many of our congregations were fast 
becoming English ; all the influential denominations 
had their church journals, many of our ministers 
wanted a vehicle for the communication of their 
thoughts; an English paper was properly regarded 
as essential to our respectability and progress; and 
the leading spirits among us, such as Krauth, Sr., 
B. Kurtz, Schmucker, Keller, Lintner, Heyer, Reck 
and others, besides some influential laymen, deter- 
mined to resuscitate the deceased Intelligencer^ or 
rather create a new paper worthy the patronage of 
our people. The questions now were, who should 
edit it, and where should it be published? Gettys- 
burg was already beginning to be looked upon as the 
headquarters of the Church, a sort of Lutheran Wit- 
tenberg (with the eld Wittenberg spirit left out), the 
Canterbury of our Zicn, with few Lutheran residents 
and no mediaeval cathedral. It was thought that 
the great organ should play its tunes (or at least 
have its bellows) in this obscure, cut-of-the-way 
place. It was to be printed by ' ' The Press of the 
Theologica"": Seminary," as it was pompously called 
on the title page of a book, but which was not owned 
by the Seminary, but was the property of and run 
by a fourth -class German printer in an office 8x10 in 
dimensions. Well, the prospectus was issued, and 
the name Observer was given it, without any dis- 
tinguishing prefix. This non-distinctiveness — this 
absence of a denominational cognomen — displeased 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I5I 

some of the Advisory Council, v/ho insisted upon a 
name for the infant which would indicate its family 
relations and pedigree. But there was one potential 
objection, Vv^hich was simply this : the majority of the 
Gettysburgers were Presbyterians — very respectable 
people. We had lately come among them, and were 
poor and of little account. It was politic to secure 
their good will, and do nothing to offend them — not 
to say a word or do an act that looked like sectarian- 
ism! ! ! It was argued by the leading man, who had 
consented to edit the paper for a time, that the title, 
LtitJia-an Observer^ would awaken denominational 
jealousy, and perhaps social discord. The others 
would not yield, and to avoid a total collapse the 
compromise was made of transferring the paper to 
some other place, where the name Lutheran would 
give no offence, and where probably a man could be 
found who would maintain the dignity and honor of 
that illustrious appellation. But it was not con- 
venient for any of them to assume the work. They 
then bethought themselves that there was a young 
man in Baltimore who might be unwise enough to 
undertake it. They knew that he w^as without ex- 
perience, without capital, and without influence be- 
yond his own small congregation. There were no 
subscribers, no advertising patronage, no reliable 
promises, and no guarantees in the event of loss. 
They absolutely prevailed upon this ministerial 
youngster to take the responsibility, with the implied 
understanding that the Church was to receive the 
profits and he to pay the losses ! ! 



152 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Well, No. I of the Lutheraii Observer was issued 
in August, 1 83 1, as a semi-monthly. The number 
of subscribers gradually increased, but I do not think 
it ever exceeded 1,000. I was overwhelmed with 
communications on all manner of church subjects, 
and many of them equaled anything that has ap- 
peared in the Observer since that day. I presume 
very few copies are extant at the present time, but 
they are dearly cherished by those who have them, 
and only because they give a fair history of the 
Church at that period, and because lovers of old 
books earnestly covet such antiquities. 

It would be wasting time to specify the leading 
articles, but the reflecting man will see in those 
pages the germ of many grand enterprises in which 
we now rejoice, and which are now so vigorously 
defended by the present editor. ' * The boy is father 
of the man;" that old saying is exemplified in this 
case. ]\Iore than one man of good sense and culti- 
vated taste has said that these early volumes of the 
Observer are, to this day, instructive and interesting 
documents. The first volume was in 8vo. form, and 
the second in 4to. 

I devoted my time to this business for two years 
without compensation, but I endured much vexation, 
gave offense to some subscribers whom I asked for 
the money they owed me, and brought down upon 
myself the ' ' celestial wrath ' ' of some clerical cor- 
respondents whose undigested and crude material I 
could not consent to publish. But this is the com- 
mon fate of editors ! 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I53 

In 1033 the Rev. B. Kurtz, then out of health, 
wishing to cease pastoral and pulpit labor for a 
season, consented to assume the editorial tripod, and 
in that year the paper was transferred to him. He 
came to Baltimore, and for twenty-five years con- 
ducted it with varying- success. He devoted his 
entire time and high business qualifications to it, 
and made it a power in the Church. 

Editor No. i, upon collecting all the money he 
could, without however making much exertion, had 
the magnificent sum of $60 as profit of two years' 
work. With part of this I bought a lot of shade 
trees, to be planted in front of the Seminary at Get- 
tysburg, and the balance I distributed among a few 
poor widows of my church. The subscription book, 
which contained about $500 of unpaid subscriptions, 
I gave to some association in the Seminary, with the 
privilege of keeping all they could collect ; but I be- 
lieve they were not very successful, perhaps because 
they were not energetic. Old subscription books 
are at best poor stock. I was sorry to learn that the 
efforts to collect these unpaid accounts met with in- 
different success, in many instances. 

The full history of the Observer has been written, 
and any persons curious on such historic lore may 
profitably consult the paper in its issues of January, 
1877, or my Bibliotheca Lutherana, p. 131. 

OTHER ENGLISH LUTHERAN MINISTERS IN BALTIMORE. 

I have spent the whole of my ministerial life in 



154 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

this city, and my friends know it has not been a short 
one. It occurred to me to-day that it would be in- 
teresting, at least to me, to look back and see how 
many other English ministers of our church had 
lived here during my time. I cannot here do much 
more than mention their names, with perhaps a few 
observations concerning them. 

I will begin with the First church. 

After my service of ^^ years, I resigned in i860, 
and assumed the duties of Librarian of the Peabody 
Institute, a position of which I have spoken more at 
large at another place. After a long and rather 
lively election, the Rev. Dr. J. McCron, at that time 
pastor of the Third church, on Monument street, 
was chosen my successor, his competitor being the 
Rev. T. Stork, D. D. Dr. McCron came to us from 
the Methodists, among whom he had been an ex- 
horter, or a local preacher, and schoolmaster. He 
had been a sailor in early life, and had seen a good 
deal of the world. He was socially a very agreeable 
man, and had some of the gifts of a natural orator. 
He could hardly be called a theologian, though a very 
popular preacher. He was born in England, of Irish 
parents, and hence always called himself an Eng- 
lishman by birth. I gave him the title of " Our 
Irish Orator, ' ' which by no means offended him. 
No man could entertain a company of his friends 
more agreeably than he, and his society was courted 
by men who loved hilarious enjoyment. He was 
sorely perplexed during high secession times, at the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 55 

beginning of the Rebel war. He did not know 
which side to espouse, for he had friends in his 
church on one side or the other, and he assumed the 
equivocal and dangerous position of sympathizing 
with both sides in turn. This course injured his 
standing in both parties. He however had warm 
friends who supported him cordially to the end of 
his pastorate. 

In 1872 he accepted the position of Superintendent 
of the Female Academy at Hagerstown, but his 
gifts were not such as fitted him for educational 
work. After that he became pastor of the church at 
Bloomsburg, then at Pottsville, then at Middletown, 
Md., where he remained a short time, and then went 
to Philadelphia, where he preached to a small con- 
gregation. There he died in 1881, and was buried 
by some of his friends, and probably by the Masonic 
Fraternity. His remains were subsequently re- 
moved to Baltimore. 

He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Barclay, 
D. D., who improved the cndition of the church. 
During his pastorate the house of worship and par- 
sonage, on Lexington street, were destroyed by fire, 
after which the people resolved to sell that ground, 
and build a new house in some growing section of 
the city. The result was the elegant church at the 
corner of Lanvale and Fremont streets. Several 
years after, he took charge of a church in Dayton, 
Ohio, which he left in 1887, and returned to Balti- 
more. He was succeeded in the First Church here 



156 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

by the Rev. M. W. Mamma, D. D., who came here 
from a church in Brooklyn, N. Y. He is a first-class 
gentleman and an industrious pastor. He resigned 
on account of ill health in 1886, and was succeeded 
by the Rev. Albert H. Studebaker, D. D., formerly 
of Harrisburg, Pa., who entered upon his work with 
the energy which ensures success. 

The first pastor of the Second Lutheran church, 
on Lombard street, was the Rev. Charles P. Krauth, 
who at that time was preaching to a small congrega- 
tion at Canton, East Baltimore. He was under 
twenty years of age, and already gave promise of 
his subsequent career as a scholar and theologian. 
His death in 1882 was universally regarded as a 
most sad calamity to the Church, for he was by all 
looked upon as the most brilliant star in the whole 
galaxy. He bore the same relation to me as I did 
to his sainted father. We were the closest, warmest 
friends as long as they lived, although there was a 
considerable disparity of years. I became the 
father's friend when I was under 22, and Charles 
became mine when he was under 19. During all 
his life he was in my family almost as one of us. 

Charles was succeeded at the Second church by 
the Rev. C. H. Ewing, a Presbyterian minister who 
joined our Synod. Then came the Rev. J. A. Seiss, 
D. D., who has since become quite eminent in the 
Church. His services as a preacher and a waiter 
deserve a longer notice than I have space to give. 
He is now (1890) the pastor of an influential church 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 157 

in Philadelphia, where he has achieved his high 
reputation. 

The Rev. Chas. H. Hersh was the successor of 
Dr. Seiss, but he died in less than a year (?) after 
his settlement. He was a godly and amiable man. 

The Rev. Joel Swartz followed. The Rev Irving 
Magee succeeded him. He moved to Albany when 
he resigned, and thence went to the Presbyterians. 

The Rev. E. J. Wolf came next. He is at present 
Professor in the Theological Seminary at Gettys- 
burg. He was succeeded by the Rev. George Scholl, 
who has recently moved to Hanover (1883). He 
was succeeded by the Rev. L. Kuhlman in 1884. 
The Rev. G. W. Miller, D. D. , was his successor. 

The Third church (Monument street) was organ- 
ized by some members of my church m 1841, who 
erected a small chapel about a year later. In 1843 
the Rev. W. A. Passavant, at that time, as C. P. 
Krauth had been, a missionary at Canton, was 
chosen pastor. He was followed by the Rev. Ap- 
pleby, who came to us from the Methodists. The 
Rev. James A. Brown succeeded him, afterwards 
the eminent theologian and profound thinker at 
Gettysburg Seminary, whose sudden paralytic attack 
deprived us of his invaluable services, and whose 
death several years after was lamented by the whole 
Church. The theological attainments of Dr. Brown 
were extensive, and his general scholarship uni- 
versally acknowledged. His knowledge was accu- 
rate ; he knew things thoroughly ; his thoughts were 



158 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

clear as the atmosphere, and his temperament cool 
and calm as a morning breeze. No opponent could 
throw him off his guard, and he was a dangerous 
man to encounter in debate, unless your cause was 
manifestly right. He was not born within our fold, 
but from conviction entered it after he had attained 
to manhood, and heartily espousing our cause, he 
maintained it vigorously to the end. 

Dr. Brown possessed a moral courage that nothing 
could daunt. If the whole history of his experience 
in South Carolina, at the breaking out of the Rebel 
war, and of his firmness in maintaining his princi- 
ples, were told, it would excite the admiration of 
friend and foe. His courage in opposing the theo- 
logical teaching of the man who had been his own 
professor in the Seminary eighteen years before, in 
a strong pamphlet, and showing his un-Lutheranism, 
deserves the highest praise. Many more character- 
istic incidents might be given. 

The Rev. P. Anstadt followed. The Rev. A. W. 
Lilly, D. D., now of York, Pa., then came, in Oc- 
tober, 185 1, and during his time the present brick 
church was built, although it has undergone sonie 
enlargements and other improvements since he left, 
in 1 85 5. He was followed by the Rev. Samuel 
Sprecher, now in the Presbyterian church. Then 
came the Rev. H. Bishop, who also died in the 
Presbyterian ministry in the west. When poor 
Bishop left the state of things was deplorable, and 
as the church had been so deeply reduced as to be 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I59 

unable to call a minister they applied to me, who 
was not then engaged, and I served them at a very 
small salary. During this engagement the church 
building was enlarged by extending it in the rear. 
I retired, and then, contrary to all the advice of ju- 
dicious friends, they elected a strange genius named 
Graves, who flourished exceedingly for several 
years, capturing the half of Old Town by storm ; 
but his sky-rockets all burned high in the air, and 
after a whiz and an emission of harmless sparks 
nothing came down but a stick. Exit poor Graves! 

The Rev. I. C. Burke is the present laborious and 
successful pastor of that church. 

St. Mark's was organized in i860 by a band of 
nearly 100 members who left the First church when 
Dr. McCron was elected pastor of it. They bought 
their present house of worship from the Presby- 
terians, which was in a neglected condition, and 
in subsequent years and various times spent thous- 
ands of dollars in its improvement and renovation. 
The Rev. Theophilus Stork, D. D., then of Phila- 
delphia, was elected first pastor, and served them 
faithfully, and built them up in every sense. He 
was not in good health, and soon was compelled to 
relinquish the work. He was what may be called 
an elegant preacher — he had the most refined taste, 
and was very careful in his pulpit preparations. He 
read all his sermons, and 3^et not very closely, but 
his elocution was good, and his composition so cor- 
rect that he was listened to with great attention and 



l6o LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

profit. He was the writer of several popular books, 
which were widely circulated. His distinguished 
son, Charles A. Stork, who had been his assistant 
for some time before, succeeded him, and achieved 
by his talents and attainments a place among" the 
very highest in our ministry. He accepted the 
position of Professor of Theology in the Seminary 
at Gettysburg, and was as eminently successful as a 
teacher as he was as a preacher and writer. His 
early death was lamented by all, and I think there 
were more extended newspaper notices and bio- 
graphical sketches and reminiscences written of him 
than of any other of our ministers who have died. 
He was a universal favorite wherever he was known, 
and he left a void which it will be hard to fill up. 

The Rev. Charles S. Albert, D. D., was elected his 
successor, and after a most prosperous ministry of 13 
years, he was followed by the present v/orthy pastor, 
Rev. W. H. Dimbar, D. D. 

St. Paul's church was dedicated in 1873, and the 
first pastor took charge of it in November of the 
same year. This was the Rev. J. A. Clutz, D. D., 
who after faithfully serving it about ten years re- 
signed, to assume the office of Home Mission Secre- 
tary, for which his good business qualities fitted him 
so well. He was succeeded by the Rev. E. Felton, 
whose successor was the Rev. W. P. Evans, who 
left us for the Episcopal church after a four years' 
service at the church. The Rev. Chas. R. Trow- 
bridge followed him as pastor. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. l6l 

Other English Lutheran congregations have been 
organized here in the last fifteen years, as follows : 
St. Luke's, Grace, Christ, Church of the Reforma- 
tion, Messiah, Trinity, and Calvary. 

If I were not speaking here exclusively of English 
preachers I would like to say a great deal of that 
meretorious servant of God, the Rev. Mr. Heyer, 
who labored most successfully in building up our 
German interest in Baltimore. 

The first man who tried to establish a mission 
here was the Rev. Dr. Gustiniani, who was form^ 
erly an Italian priest, had lived in Australia as a sort 
of missionary, thence went to England and got 
among the Wesleyans, and I believe came over here 
and joined our Synod. He wrote a book at my sug- 
gestion, and I named it * ' Papal Rome, as it is, ' ' by 
a Roman. This was in 1833. He was a man of 
fair education and undoubted Christian character. 
His ways were somewhat eccentric, and his church 
views not the most correct. It mattered not to him 
where he belonged, and he assumed all sorts of 
church liberties without any regard to synodical re- 
strictions. He died in Cincinnati some years after. 

A little congregation at Canton was in early years 
organized by the Rev. C. P. Krauth, who remained 
six months, and then went to the Second church, 
as already mentioned. Then came the Rev. W. A. 
Passavant, who continued about six months, and 
then took charge of the Third church. He was 
followed by the Rev. A. J. Weddell. 
II 



l62 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

SCRAP-BOOK COLLECTIONS. 

For many years I have been in the habit of past- 
ing most of my newspaper contributions in a scrap- 
book, of which I now have six large 4to. volumes. 
I have found this plan very convenient. It is amus- 
ing, and often mortifying also, to leaf over this riidis 
indigesta que moles, which frequently brings up the 
saying of the Persian poet: ** The remembrance of 
youth is a sigh. ' ' 

Several series of articles were written, which I 
will mention here, and omit in the list of my writ- 
ings at the end of this book. 

" Eight Days in the Alps," in which an Alpine 
tour, in all its lofty enjoyments, hairbreadth escapes, 
perilous stumblings, bone-cracking tumbles, and 
numerous other queer adventures are faithfully por- 
trayed. These appeared in the Observer of 1846-7. 

* ' The Confessions of a Beneficiary ' ' recited the 
privations, discouragements and final triumphs of 
an imaginary character, but everything was true in 
its particulars. The articles were not imputed to 
me at first, so real did I draw the picture ; they re- 
flected somewhat unfavorably on the condition of 
things in the Seminary, so that Prof. Schmucker 
felt constrained to deny that any young man who 
had begun active life *' as apprentice to a house- 
painter, had ever been a student under his care. * ' I 
was amused at his fruitless attempts to find out the 
author, for he took every word as historically true, 
and made no allowance for ideal word-painting or 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 163 

fiction founded on truth. I was gratified also that 
some reforms in the Seminary were ths result of 
these ' ' Confessions. ' ' They appeared about the 
year 1836. 

A series running through many weeks, entitled 
"The Country Parson," "The Country Parson's 
Wife," and "The Country Parson's Daughter," 
attracted the general attention of the OVserver read- 
ers of that day (1833- 1834). They described char- 
acters, manners, experiences, and things generally. 
My description of an imaginary country schoolmas- 
ter, who frequently annoyed his minister by his un- 
welcome presence, was so true to nature that a man 
answering the description called apon his minister, 
and censured him severely for exposing him to the 
church. The minister replied that he was not the 
author of the article. "Weil, then," said the cul- 
prit, ' ' you must have told that Observer writer all 
about me, foi nobody knows it but you!" The pas- 
tor protested, but the man went away unconvinced. 
Some years afterwards the minister told me this 
story himself. It was that thoroughly-read theo- 
logian and professor, the Rev. C. F. Schaeffer, D. D. 

' ' Letters from a Garret ' ' were continued several 
years, and excited considerable interest. In them 
everything of importance occurring in the Church, 
including some tales and other fancy sketches, was 
treated. Many letters relating to them were re- 
ceived, and every encouragement given to continue 
them. Giving of offence was carefully avoided, and 



164 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

yet some sensitive and suspicious persons thought 
they were alluded to, when in reality they were either 
unknown or their cases were entirely out of mind. 
During the publication of these articles the Rev. Dr. 
Cuyler, of Brooklyn, delivered a lecture at Gettys- 
burg, in which he mentioned Mr. Garrett, President 
of the B. and O. Railioad. The simple-minded 
students thought he was alluding to my Letters, and 
raised a yell, which annoyed the orator, for he knew 
nothing of these Letters. 

' ' Old Pictures Cleaned ' ' was the title of a series, 
in which some facts relating to the Reformation not 
generally found in the popular books, and other ob- 
scure historical events, were illustrated. They in- 
cluded also some incidents of travel, which had been 
omitted from other communications. 

" Over Sea Recollections " recounted the tales of 
a traveler, in which were grouped many facts of in- 
terest, and which at that period (1848) were received 
with general favor. 

" Stray Leaves from my Journal " embrace 
sketches of tours made to Ohio in 1839. This was 
before the existence of railroads generally, and 
canal and stage coach travel are set forth in true 
colors. 

" Loose Leaves from my Journal "(1847), ** Pick- 
ings from a Waste-Basket " (1875), " Chips Picked 
up by the Wayside, " ' * Letters from Baltimore, ' ' 
' * Recreations of Luther, " " Lutherana, " " The 
Note-Book of a Naturalist, " " Insecto-Theology, ' ' 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 165 

"The Necessity of the Reformation," "Scenes 
from the Youth of Spener, " "Myrtle from our 
Fathers' Graves," "The Last Days and Burial of 
Luther," all of which were lengthened out in many 
numbers, appeared in the Observer and other church 
papers, besides a large number of single or detached 
communications on an infinite variety of subjects. I 
also furnished a large number of communications 
concerning Luther for Our Church Paper ^ published 
by the Henkels, of New Market, Va. They reached 
through several years, and they were always grate- 
fully accepted by those enterprising men, who in- 
formed me that their subscribers read them with 
pleasure and profit.* 

I was frequently attacked, and in a few instances 
with unprovoked severity, strongly sprinkled with 
malevolence, all of which the Observer of 1 840-1 850 
published. The most bitter and wicked personal 
thrusts were aimed at me. I never condescended to 
reply to these vulgar assaults, although on one occa- 
sion friends of mine did vindicate me against an 
accusation which the author of it knew to be untrue. 

The controversies in the Church were carefully 
avoided, and very few of my articles treated very 
demonstratively of the points in dispute among us. 
I uttered my Lutheran sentiments very freely, ^but 
I never had a theological discussion with any one 
in the papers. 

■^The Workman and the Lutheran World also contained 
many interesting and instructive letters and communications 
from the pen of Dr. Morris. C. R. T. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES AND OFFICES. 

Whatever I may have done, like other boys, in 
collecting- insects, plants, minerals and other " curi- 
osities, ' ' it amounted to nothing practical or useful. 
I had no one to guide me, and there were no popular 
or elementary books on natural history to instruct 
me. Somewhere about my fourteenth year I had 
pretty well mastered the preface of Goldsmith's 
" Animated Nature," which at that time was con- 
sidered a great book. I learned the construction of 
an electrical machine, with which I performed many 
common experiments. Thus for years I amused 
myself with such books and collected materials as I 
could lay hands upon, but understanding nothing 
about them I laid them aside for something more 
exciting. 

It was not until after I had entered the ministry 
that I really began to study science, and I here de- 
sire to record my sincere conviction that, under God, 
my uninterrupted good health for many years is 
owing, in a great measure, to my pursuits of this 
character. My frequent ramblings in the fields and 
woods in search of objects, my researches upon the 

(i66) 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 167 

banks of streams and in the water, my exertions in 
climbing trees, ascending hills, beating bushes, 
sweeping the grass with the insect net, turning 
stones and logs, all contributing to the exercise of 
the muscles, the expansion of the chest, and to 
mental and bodily recreation, the agreeable inter- 
change of lighter and severer studies, all aided in 
giving me a physical constitution which to this day 
has never been assailed by severe sickness of twenty- 
four hours' duration. Only once, or perhaps twice, 
in a life of fifty years in the ministry, have I been 
kept out of the pulpit by sickness, and then I was 
able to preach, but the doctor advised me to stay at 
home, especially as I had a good substitute. 

It would be better for many a dyspeptic, weak- 
lunged, bronchitic, ** delicate " minister if he had 
even a moderate taste for some science which com- 
pelled him to go out of doors ! True, there is a pop- 
ular prejudice against a minister giving much time 
to such studies, but I have always seemingly satisfied 
some of my kind friends who with grave counte- 
nances would impart a tender caution, by replying 
that my sermons were always the better after my 
long wanderings in the fields on Saturday afternoons. 

Throughout all my clerical life I had my work for 
Sunday finished by Saturday noon, so that I had the 
afternoon and night to myself. I was never caught 
working at my sermons late on Saturday night, nor 
writing the last amen when the church bells were 
ringing on Sunday morning. I once stated this fact 



1 68 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

to a Presbyterian, who was much older than I, and 
he vowed he would adopt the good practice. 

Entomology was my principal study, but to pursue 
this to scientific advantage a knowledge of the food 
plants of insects is necessary, hence botany comes in 
naturally. I made large collections in both depart- 
ments, and every species was correctly and systemat- 
ically arranged and labeled, by the help of my books 
or by fellow naturalists. And lest I might forget it 
I will here state a little incident, interesting in more 
than one relation. When I was at Charleston, at- 
tending the General Synod, in 1850, I saw, in Dr. 
Bachman's study, an immense herbarium, consisting 
of many thick folio volumes, and upon expressing 
an interest in them, especially after having been told 
that many of them had formerly belonged to Elliot, 
from which he had written his Southern Botany, the 
good Doctor intimated that he felt disposed to give 
them to any man who he was sure would take good 
care of them. I jumped at the offer; Mrs. Bachman 
seconded the proposition, and apprehending that 
some change might take place in their minds, I went 
out immediately and bought two large " store 
boxes, ' ' and hired a man to pack them up, and be- 
fore night I had them on the wharf ready for the 
next packet to Baltimore ! This was a rich treasure, 
for it contains many of Elliot's original labels and 
of Dr. Bachman's also. On one specimen of the 
" Poison Oak " is written, in. the Doctor's own dis- 
tinct chirography, '* This specimen was once near 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 69 

putting an end to my botanical studies, for it pois- 
oned me to a very dangerous degree. ' ' Strange to 
say. I was never affected by this plant, and yet some 
persons cannot go near it with impunity. None but 
an enthusiastic naturalist can appreciate such an 
apparently small affair as this which Dr. Bachman 
relates of himself. 

The duplicate specimens in this herbarium were 
so numerous that I was able to make several good 
collections of Southern plants, v/hich I sent to my 
botanical friends in Europe and to one in this 
country. 

Many of the great books on these two branches 
were bought by me, and others too costly for my 
purse were consulted in other libraries. 

General zoology also engaged my attention, and I 
had respectable collections of birds, the m_ore com- 
mon reptiles, large numbers of our land and fresh 
water shells, as well as marine, and some fishes. 
The best books on these subjects were also studied. 

In several of these departments I had for many 
years the valuable co-operation of Dr. Melsheimer, 
of York county, Pa., of the Rev. D. Ziegler, of the 
German Reformed church, and of Prof. S. S. Halde- 
man, who has since abandoned natural history, and 
has become so eminent a philologist,* and many 
other naturalists with whom I became acquainted. 

* Haldeman died in 1880. I gave a brief sketch of his scien- 
tific career in an address which I delivered as President of the 
Entomological Section of the A. A. A. S. at the meeting in 
Cincinnati in 1881. 



lyo LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I carried on for a long time a system of exchanges 
and correspondence with naturalists in our own 
country, and with Profs. Burmeister and Germar, 
of Halle; Erichson, Klug and Troschel, of Berlin; 
Mr. Riehl, of Cassel; the Sturms, of Nurnberg; 
Dr. Von dem Busch and Wilkens, of Bremen; Mr. 
Doubleday, of the British Museum^ and others in 
England. These studies qualified me to some ex- 
tent to give public lectures on the subject, which I 
have already spoken of, and which also led to my 
election as Lecturer on Natural History in the Uni- 
versity of Maryland, where I never performed any 
service, and to a similar position in Pennsylvania 
College, where I gave short courses at various times. 
The difficulty in giving even a tolerably full course 
in the college is that there is no special provision 
made for an additional teacher on the subject, and 
the interruption to the regular curriculum which the 
introduction of extra lectures would occasion. 

My numerous letters from the gentlemen men- 
tioned above, and from other naturalists, form a val- 
uable collection. 

In the Seminary it is otherwise. I am paid for my 
services there, and for some years I have given an- 
nual series on "The Connection between Revelation 
and Science ' ' to the Senior class, and also several 
times a pretty full course on "'The Natural History 
of the Bible." 

In the winter of 187 8-1879 I attended a course of 
fifteen lectures on Biology in Johns Hopkins Uni- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I7I 

versit}^ Every Saturday we had a lecture of an 
hour by Prof. Brooks, and immediately after three 
hours of work in the laboratory. These lectures 
were very instructive, and furnished me the most 
wholesome recreation. 

My scientific studies, of course, brought me early 
into the acquaintance, correspondence and society 
of men of similar pursuits, both in this country and 
in Europe. I joined the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and have been absent 
very seldom from the- annual meetings. I there 
met many of the most distinguished American 
savans, with some of whom I have been on intimate 
terms for many years, such as Profs. Henry, Baird, 
Coues, Newcomb, Haldeman, Scudder, Riley, Silli- 
man, Hagen, Baron Ostensacken, Le Conte, Horn, 
Lintner, Orde, Bethune, Saunders, Comstock, and 
many others in every department of science. Be- 
sides these, and many other members of the Associ- 
ation, there were many naturalists, especially ento- 
mologists, with whom I had frequent correspondence 
and personal interview. I particularly desire to 
mention Herman Strecker, of Reading, Pa., who is 
professionally a journeyman marble-worker, but is 
also an artist of high merit in drawing, engraving 
and coloring butterflies in a style of beauty and cor- 
rectness which demands the admiration of all men 
of taste. By extensive and long- continued exchanges 
with naturalists in all parts of the world, he has 
brought together the largest collection of butterflies 



172 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

in this country, and which is exceeded by few private 
collections in the world. He has also described 
numerous new species, which have been adopted by 
other naturalists. He is a queer genius, and like all 
men of that character, does not receive the ardent ad- 
miration of every one ; but all must acknowledge his 
uncommon artistic skill, perseverance and success. 

Students of natural history, especially those who 
are also known to be field collectors, often receive 
valuable aid from other persons, who occasionally 
find something that is new and interesting to them. 
They kindly send or bring an insect, reptile, fish, 
bird, and sometimes a mineral or a flower, to ascer- 
tain what it is, or to do a favor to the naturalist, 
which is all very kind. Of course some things are 
now and then brought which are very common, but 
still unknown to the generous giver. But the re- 
ceiver should express his thanks, for if he were to 
treat the gift indifferently he would not be likely to 
receive anything more from that quarter. 

Strange facts are often referred to him for expla- 
nation, and many letters of inquir}^ are received, 
even from a distance. Once I got a letter from 
Ohio, containing an uncommon spider, of which the 
obliging correspondent wanted to know everything, 
and fortunately, with the aid of my spider books, I 
was able to satisfy him. Numerous similar inquiries 
are often made, or queer facts are communicated, 
and it is gratifying to be able to impart informa- 
tion, explain difficulties, correct errors, and encour- 
age further researches. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 73 

In addition to this fascinating science 1 also paid 
considerable attention to microscopy, which afforded 
me much gratification. I have numerous figures of 
animalcules, zoophytes, and other objects, which I 
drew from the slides under the instrument. 

Many years ago a French naturalist. Count Castle- 
nau, deposited m what was known, at that time, as 
the National Institution, at Washington, an immense 
collection of beetles, filling over one hundred boxes. 
They had been neglected, and were fast going to ruin. 
Joseph K. Townsend, the ornithologist, who was at 
that time a clerk nominally in one of the depart- 
ments, but really the working naturalist of the Na- 
tional Institution, engaged me to go to Washington 
to overhaul this collection, and if possible to pre- 
serve it from total destruction. I accepted the offer, 
and my compensation was the privilege of keeping 
specimens of the duplicates. The boxes were re- 
moved to Townsend's house, his family being absent 
for the summer, where I labored laboriously for five 
or six days during a severe spell of hot weather. I 
put the collection into fairly good order, and thor- 
oughly cleansed all the boxes. I was satisfied with 
my compensation, for my own collection was consid- 
erably enriched. I do not know what has become 
of the Castlenau collection, but I presume it has 
been suffered to go to ruin. It was subsequently 
transferred to the Smithsonian, but it is doubtful if 
any portion of it is now in existence. Townsend 
was an enterprising naturalist, and crossed the Rocky 



174 LIFE REMINISCENXES OF 

Mountains with Nuttall, the botanist, long before the 
discovery of gold in California. It was a laborious 
and dangerous tour. He wrote a very clever book 
on the natural history of that country, in which he 
also describes the perilous adventures of the long 
journey. From the Pacific coast the two travelers 
sailed for the Sandwich Islands in pursuit of plants, 
birds, and other objects. Among many other inter- 
esting incidents which he related to me I will relate 
the following: 

An American missionary kindly entertained them, 
and did all in his power to promote their scientific 
pursuits. On Sunday morning Townsend, who was 
no strict observer of that day, tried to steal away 
from the house, gun in hand, after Sandwich Island 
birds. To his deep mortification the good missionary 
observed him, and remarked " Wait a moment and 
I'll go with you." " What!" said Townsend, " do 
you go hunting on Sunday ? " ' * This is not Sunday, ' ' 
replied he, " it is Monday. ' ' And so it was. Town- 
send in crossing the continent had lost a day, and 
the missionary in going around Cape Horn had 
gained a day, and this accounted for the difference. 
Townsend was glad that with a good conscience he 
could now go hunting on that day, and that he had 
the missionary for a companion. I have often told 
this story, and yet there are a good many otherwise 
sensible people who cannot understand how it could 
possibly be that the day should be Sunday to one of 
them and Monday to the other. 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 75 

Thus for many years I pursued these studies as an 
amateur, and acquired by exchange or purchase a 
fair collection of insects. At first I confined myself 
to Coleoptera (Beetles), but exchanged them for 
Lepidoptera (Butterflies), to which order I have 
confined my studies. 

I have already mentioned that I was honored by 
the Smithsonian Insitute publishing two of my 
books ; one was ' ' A Synopsis of the Lepidoptera of 
the United States," 8vo., which was much sought 
after by young entomologists, who used it to name 
their butterflies, and which was highly spoken of by 
some French, English and German journals. The 
other Vs'as " A Catalogue of the Described Lepidop- 
tera of the United States. " The list of my publica-- 
tions, given in the following pages, contams other 
minor writings of mine on this subject. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RESIGNATION AS PASTOR; LIBRARIAN OF THE PEABODY 
INSTITUTE. 

After a service of $$ years in the church in Lex- 
ington street, I had a good opportunity of resigning 
without compulsion or from exhaustion. I offered 
myself as a candidate for the position of Librarian 
in the Peabody Institute, and was elected. It was 
necessar}^ that I should resign my pastorship, and 
this was a struggle. I had served that church ;^^ 
years, having built it up from the beginning, en- 
larged the house of worship several times, sent off 
two colonies, built the parsonage, paid off a large 
portion of the debt, and left everything in a pros- 
perous condition. I was not compelled to go, nor 
did the people desire it, at least there were no out- 
ward evidences of it. I reasoned thus : " If I do not 
leave now and accept this respectable place, so well 
suited to my tastes, I may never have a better op- 
portunity of bettering my condition. If I stay here 
much longer I will be considered too old to be called 
to any other church, and my own people will get 
tired of me and give me unmistakable evidences 
that I had better leave. Worn out among them, 

(176) 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 177 

and no longer a young man whom any other chnrch 
would want (for few men over fifty receive calls), 
had I not better quietly withdraw and give the 
church an opportunity of securing another man?" I 
consulted judicious men, in and out of my church, 
and they sanctioned my course. Many persons 
afterwards told me that it was a proper step, and 
thought I was the proper man to fill the place. The 
church had never supported me, and the deficiency 
was made up from my own private income to an 
amount of upwards of $15,000, at a low calculation. 
I thought I could get along on a smaller salary, for 
the Peabody gave me only $1,500, vfhereas the 
church gave me $1,500 and the parsonage. Not 
being a pastor, I would not have so many expenses. 

Some persons found fault with me because they 
thought I was going to abandon the pulpit altogether 
for a secular office, but they were mistaken. I never 
intended to do that — I would rather have given up 
everything else. I was consecrated to the pulpit. 
I mJght for a season cease to be pastor, but never 
for a day to be preacher. Expediency might suggest 
the former, but necessity only the latter. My own 
conscience justified me, and I had the sanction of 
one whose opinion on such a subject I valued more 
highly than that of any other person living. My 
brother also sanctioned it, and my mind was at ease. 

I left the parsonage in July, i860, and bought the 
house on Greene street, where we have since resided 
in the winter. I preached no farewell sermon. 
12 



lyS LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Immediately after Rev. McCron was elected in my 
place, by those who remained after about loo of the 
congregation withdrew and organized the congrega- 
tion on Eutaw street under the pastoral care of Rev. 
Dr. Stork. 

Monument Street church, which was originally an 
offshoot from the First church, was then vacant, and I 
preached there every Sunday for a whole year. Sev- 
eral years afterwards I was elected temporary pastor 
of that church. I never lived in Old Town, not 
wishing to change my comfortable home in Greene 
street for the narrow and inconvenient parsonage on 
Monument street, and then again I did not expect 
to stay long with that people. I spent much time 
among them, and occupied the study in the church. 
Most of them treated me kindly, and my services 
among them are gratefully remembered to this day. 
They were, in general, a plain, sincere people, who 
never gave me more trouble than usually falls to the 
lot of most ministers, and many of them were greatly 
profited by my instructions. The majority had very 
vague theological, and some of them fanatical notions 
and very loose ideas of true Lutheranism. 

During my pastorate the house of worship was 
enlarged and beautified, but I continued preaching 
every Sunday morning for several summer months, 
although the whole rear end was knocked out, and 
the scaffolds were standing in the body of the house. 
I did not leave my summ.er home, and I thought it 
just as well to come in on Sunday morning and 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 79 

preach to the few hundred who attended. My 
reminiscences of that church are on the whole 
pleasant. 

While pastor in Old Town I collected nearly 
$1,200 to build a chapel on the Bel Air road, near 
the city, at a place called San Domingo. There are 
two or three breweries there, and the population by 
no means inclined churchwards. We held Sunday- 
school there for some years, and tried to gather in 
the people by preaching, but the lager beer interest 
was too strong, and the enterprise was abandoned 
after my resignation and the property was sold. I 
remember that the proprietress of the largest saloon 
offered us the use of a large upper hall for a Sunday- 
school anniversary, and in order to reach it we were 
compelled to pass through a large place that was 
crowded with beer-drinkers on Sunday afternoon, so 
that they were talking loud, laughing and jingling 
their glasses while we were singing and praying up 
stairs, and all the doors open. We never could 
awaken any interest in our work among the people 
there. Some of them would not even send their 
children to Sunday-school, and it was a queer excuse 
for the absence of the few who did attend that they 
sometimes gave, that they had to stay at home to 
help in the bar ! 

After my resignation, in 1866, they elected a man, 
against my remonstrance, who, by his extravagance 
of demeanor, almost ruined the church. They were 
perfectly infatuated, but paid dearly for their error. 



i8o LIFE Rj:miniscences of 

He was expelled from our Synod in 1876, and this 
congregation was in a deplorable condition. They 
then called on me to again take the oversight of 
them, which I consented to do until they would elect 
a man permanently, which they did in a few months 
afterwards. My last Sunday with them was Janu- 
ary 19, 1877. 

A few years before this, that is, in 1874, the Rev. 
C. A. Stork, D. D., went abroad, and I agreed to be 
his substitute during his absence. I began October 
4, 1874, and concluded in July, 1875, when he re- 
turned. During his absence the General Synod of 
1875 was held in that church (St. Mark's). 

In January, 1879, the Rev. Mr. Dimm, the princi- 
pal of Luthervalle School, and pastor of the village 
church, resigned the latter position, and as there 
was no one else who could take charge of it on ac- 
count of the small salary, I assumed the care of it. 
I agreed to preach but once on Sunday, and I con- 
tinued this service to July 6, 1885. 

MY LIBRARIANSHIP IN THE PEABODY INSTITUTE. 

It is well known to persons acquainted with the 
history of this grand institution that Mr. Peabody, 
besides appointing twenty-eight men as Trustees, 
designated two hundred and fifty others, from whom 
vacancies in the Board were to be filled. 

My name was on this latter list, and I was the first 
man elected as a Trustee to fill a vacancy, which 
was occasioned by the death of the Rev. Dr. Burnap. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. l8l 

I was much surprised and gratified by this mark 
of distinction, for there were many older and more 
influential men from whom a selection might have 
been made. Besides, I was not personally ac- 
quainted with most of the Trustees, and not on inti- 
mate terms with those whom I did know. I accepted 
the position, and attended several meetings of the 
Board before I resigned my church to assume the 
responsible office of librarian. At this time the in- 
stitution was not in active operation; the building 
was not finished, and no books had been bought. 
The Trustees, however, concluded to elect a librar- 
ian, and after long deliberation I concluded to offer 
myself as a candidate, not, however, before I was 
certain that I would be chosen. I had assurances 
from a sufficient number that they would vote for 
me, and I gave in my name. There were four other 
candidates, but I received all the votes except a few. 
My chief competitor was John R. Thompson, the 
poet and editor. The salary was $1,500 a year, 
which was less than I received from my church, for 
there I had the same amount and a free parsonage, 
which was equal to $500 more. I had paid some 
attention to bibliography, and had become pretty 
well acquainted with books which were suited to a 
first-class reference library. I was elected on June 
I, i860, and entered upon my duties August i, i860. 
For some weeks I was diligently engaged in prepar- 
ing rules for the government of the library, the 
modes and places of purchasing books, and making 



l82 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

out lists of works to be bought. This list comprised 
50,000 volumes, and the Trustees appropriated $500 
for its publication in an 8vo. volume. This was the 
basis of purchases for some years. 

In making- this list I consulted the best English 
and American catalogues, and in studymg library 
economy I had access to all the great works on that 
subject in English, French and German. 

During my three years' service I spent over $30,- 
000 for books, keeping up a constant correspondence 
with European and American dealers. I went to 
Boston and New York several times to make pur- 
chases, but especially to examine the libraries and 
to study their modes of management. I wrote 
voluminous reports for my Library Committee on 
systematic arrangement, cataloguing and preserva- 
tion of books. 

I had numerous applications from ladies and gen- 
tlemen for subordinate positions; most of them 
looked upon it as an easy place, where they might 
spend most of their time in reading. I selected as 
my assistant Philip R. Uhler, who is still connected 
with the institution, and has become Provost. Dur- 
ing his absence at Cambridge, where he was a pupil 
of Agassiz in natural history, having previously re- 
signed, but subsequently reassumed his place, I ap- 
pointed Alexander Stork, who held the position for 
several years. 

Some very unfounded prejudices against the In- 
stitute prevailed generally, which I did all in my 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 183 

power to remove, and to some effect. An opinion 
was entertained by a certain class of people that it 
was intended only for what they called the aristoc- 
racy, and not for persons of inferior station in life. 
This opinion was founded upon the fact that only 
wealthy, or at least influential men or leaders of 
men, were managers of it, but I took pains to invite 
reading men of all classes to partake of its benefits, 
and heartily welcomed all who did come. One 
strong argument that I employed was this, that if it 
was intended only for the upper classes very few of 
them took advantage of it, for there were hundreds 
of " first-class citizens " who never entered the 
house, and some of them living less than 500 yards 
from the building. It is a singular fact that there. 
are thousands of respectable and intelligent men and 
women in this city who to this day have never seen 
the grand collections of books in that library. There 
are lovers and readers of books by the hundreds who 
never go there. The prejudice is not eradicated, 
but T fear it is on the increase. I could tell some of 
the reasons, but the subject is not interesting. 

Uninterrupted sedentary labor, of seven hours 
daily, was not favorable to my health, and I became 
weary of the monotonous life. After the first year 
it was not much more than manual labor or mercan- 
tile business, cataloguing, letter writing, and buying 
at the lowest prices; this latter part was often 
humiliating, but I was compelled to submit. 
• The entire management of the concern was left to 



184 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

me and a member of the Library Committee. The 
other members paid no attention whatever to it, and 
some of them came into the library department once 
or twice a year. This member was not a scholar, 
nor had he any knowledge of the higher style of 
books. He did not know a word of Latin, Greek or 
German; he was unsympathetic in his nature, 
haughty in his manners, and most absurd in his 
pretensions. He knew no poetry nor literature nor 
science, and yet this man was my master in the 
selection of books and my superior in authority in 
all things. Never before .had I been placed in such 
a humiliating position. I was mortified beyond ex- 
pression at my enforced subserviency. I was often 
compelled to yield my better judgment to his im- 
perious dogmatism to«avoid a violent conflict. Never 
was my patience put to so severe a test, and I bore 
it all as a righteous divine chastisement. One 
member of the committee who would have sympa- 
thized with me was sick during all this time, and 
died. I sometimes complained to him of the man- 
ner in which I was thwarted and oppressed, and he 
used to say, " Bear it a little longer, until I get well, 
and you and I will work together harmoniously." 
Alas for me and for him and for the Institute, he 
never recovered. He was a scholarly gentleman, and 
in his death the Institute suffered an irreparable loss, 
I was made to feel very soon that this member did 
not want a man of literary tastes as librarian, but a 
man who could drive the best bargain with the trade. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 185 

and I often felt myself and the institution belittled 
by obeying his instructions in this regard ; he wanted 
a man who could keep a ledger, and looked upon a 
literary acquaintance with books as a secondary 
matter. A man who could manage a factory, keep 
the operatives severely to their work, pay them off 
on Saturday evening, and keep the accounts straight, 
v/as his idea of the qualifications for a librarian. He 
never would listen patiently to any suggestion I 
might make, although he subsequently adopted 
many of them after I had adroitly made him think 
they were his own, but as coming directly from me 
he never would sanction them. He treated me and 
my assistant as if we were apprentices in a dry-goods 
store ; he had no respect for our labors, and never 
gave us credit for anything we did; he was con- 
stantly finding fault. He would give orders, and 
then rebuke us for executing them, having forgotten 
that he had given them. 

The man who without any linguistic knowledge 
would pretend to select the best editions of the Latin 
and Greek classics must have a high opinion of him- 
self, and the man who asked me ' ' whether the Sep- 
tuagint was a Hebrew Bible, " and often spoke of the 
" Opera om / na " of a great author, and suggested 
the purchase of a " Greek Lexington," is not the 
man for a Library Committee ! ! ! 

It may be presumed that my situation was any- 
thing but pleasant, and I longed for the day of my 
release, but only because my daily association with 



l86 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

this man embittered my life. I could enumerate 
other grievances which I suffered, but I will forbear. 
Never did I spend three such unhappy years, and 
the remembrance of the mortifications to which I 
submitted, and the painful experience of my un- 
happy association with that man, is anything but 
pleasant. 

I was previously told that I would have trouble 
with this pretentious individual, for his association 
with some gentlemen in the management of the 
Baltimore Library rendered him obnoxious to them. 
I was warned against his arrogance, but I thought 
that by conscientious attention to my duties, and the 
cultivation of a forgiving spirit, I might overcome 
his morose disposition ; but from the beginning he 
treated Uhler and me like fourth-class clerks, and 
showed his contempt of us and his own perverseness 
every day. And yet, let every man have his due. 
He was a man of leisure, and devoted all his time 
to the Institute, from the day the first plan of the 
building was proposed to its completion. His resi- 
dence was within a hundred yards of the location, 
and enabled him to be present constantly and to see 
every stone and brick laid. No other man had time 
or inclination to do this, and he doubtless was of 
some use. But unfortunately his service was ren- 
dered in a very offensive manner, for there was not a 
workman about the building, from the superintend- 
ent down to a hod-carrier, who did not take delight in 
using any other than polite language respecting him. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 57 

I often defended him against severe malediction. I 
have often heard others, who were his equals in 
authority and far superior to him in intelligence and 
influence, denouncing him without stint. But he 
was sincerely honest in his zeal, I believe, and may 
have saved many a dollar for the Institute ; and yet 
his bungling errors cost it many more. He lived 
unloved and died unwept. 

I left the Institute at the expiration of my term 
with the personal good will of every member of the 
Board, except this man ; and even he, thinking pos- 
sibly that I was poor, and needing support, gave me 
a parting stab by saying that they would perhaps 
give me a professorship, when he knew well enough 
there was no provision made for such an office, and 
never would be. My successor, who is a first-class 
business man, soon managed to get rid of this person 
as a member of the Library Committee, and has 
never encountered the humiliating difficulties which 
so severely taxed my patience. After my resigna- 
tion I received a letter from Prof. Henr}'-, of the 
Smithsonian Institute, of which I give an extract: 

" Smithsonian Institute, April 6, 1867. 
'* Although your position in the Institute gave you an oppor- 
tunity of doing much good in the line of your tastes, yet your 
resignation must relieve you from perplexities and anno3'ances 
ill suited to the constitutional habits and the essential requisites 
of a man of literature or science." 



CHAPTER IX. 

SUMMER RESIDENCE AT I.UTHERVII.I.E— I,ECTURES AND 
READINGS. 

When, in 185 1, Dr. B. Kurtz and I, with our own 
money and on our own responsibility, bought the 
farm, now called Lutherville, consisting of a large 
number of acres, for which we gave $705 1, and which 
we subsequently transferred to the Seminary Board 
at the same price, to be sold in lots at an advanced 
price, thus raising funds to build the Seminary edifice. 
We retained 16 acres, he eleven and I five, with the 
consent of the Board, as a sort of compensation for 
the risk we ran and as interest on the money ad- 
vanced. I chose the five acres which I now occupy 
and he selected eleven, embracing that section upon 
which Mrs. Urlaub's house now stands. I once heard 
it intimated, to my deep chagrin, that this enterprise 
of Dr. Kurtz's and mine was a pecuniary speculation. 
Never was a greater calumny uttered. Our design 
was purely disinterested. We ventured our money 
for the good of the Church, and we suffered untold 
anxiety and trouble. Some men are incapable of 
generous acts themselves, and think everybody else 
like them, or are envious of the liberality of others 
because it rebukes our own parsimony. 

(188) 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER . 189 

My house was the first one erected. It cost $4,000. 
All the ground was covered with a dense forest, and 
much preliminary and subsequent work and expense 
were necessary to bring the surroundings into proper 
shape and order. We moved out in the summer of 
1852, and have lived there four or five months of 
every summer since that day. 

From the Lutheran Observer. 

" My Dkar Dr. S : You ask me how I am spending the 

summer at my Tusculum at Ivuthervdlle. Well, a man who has 
a large and convenient house, situated in the midst of a grove 
of native forest trees, and surrounded by some of the cheaper 
embellishments of landscape gardening, with a soil producing 
in abundance all the fruits and vegetables of this latitude ; with 
spring water, cold and clear ; with arbors inviting retirement 
from the hot sun ; with seats scattered over the lawn, under the 
shade of the wide-spreading beech and gnarled oak ; with the 
fragrance of flowers; with the rose and morning-glory, and 
Wistaria, Clematis, and other climbing plants twining in grace- 
ful embrace over the columns of his cottage ; with a plentifully 
supplied table ; with a good appetite and a grateful heart to en- 
joy it ; with a happy family ; with a good conscience ; with in- 
telligent neighbors ; with a good library; and — and — well, I was 
about to say, that a man with all these things should spend his 
time pleasantly and profitably; shouldn't he? 

'* But you ask me what are my special employments and my 
regular everyday pursuits? Well, as far as amusement is con- 
cerned, I receive my daily mail at nine o'clock, and then an 
hour is spent in reading the morning papers and my letters. 
Those of the latter requiring answers are immediately attended 
to. I go fishing three or four times every week, on which ac- 
count my neighbors call me Old Izaak Walton ! I give several 
lessons a week in botany to a lad of my family; I capture moths 
at night in my study — well, if they will come in and fly about 



190 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

my lamp, I think it well to press them to stay, and they do! I 
play croquet with my girls and my neighbors' girls and boys! 
I have even umpired the village boys in their game of base ball ; 
I occasionally serve at the bat myself, but I pay a little Irish 
boy to run the bases for me ; I strike tremendous sky-scrapers 
and clover-cutters, and my Hibernian boy makes many a home 
run. I play nine-pins with the ladies and gentlemen, and often 
make a ten-strike, so that I am always chosen first by the 
makers-up of the game. A sound philosopher once said : ' He 
that thinks any innocent pastime foolish, has either to grow 
wiser, or is past the ability to do so.' 

"These are my chief amusements, but I do a great deal of 
work beside. I carefully prepare one sermon a week; I go to 
town several times a week ; I read the principal reviews and 
monthlies and a few of the weeklies, beside skimming over 
more than a dozen of our own Church papers, especially the 
German; I conduct a considerable correspondence with friends 
and the press; I am writing several fresh lectures for next 
winter's campaign. I try to keep up with the current lit- 
erature of the day, which I find it very hard to do; I am con- 
stantly making efforts to increase my collection of books con- 
cerning Luther, and of the productions of Lutheran divines in 
America ; I spend considerable time in entertaining my numer- 
ous city visitors, for my place is so convenient from town ! But 
they are always welcome, I give several ' receptions ' in the 
summer, one of which is a strawberry party, to some of my city 
clerical friends, and the other to a company of scientific asso- 
ciates who annually come out for a day's recreation. I leave 
home occasionally with my family on a tour to the seashore or 
elsewhere, and especially to the meetings of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, at which I meet many 
distinguished men. This is the way I spend my summers here.'' 

For four or five years I have been preacher for the 
small congregation here, because when my prede- 
cessor resigned there v.^as no one ready to take the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. I9I 

place, and I happened just at that time to have no 
pastoral charge. The congregation is not large 
enough to support a minister, and it suited both 
parties for me to step into the vacanc}^ 

MY CAREER AS A READER. 

From my earliest youth I was a ' ' spouter ' ' of 
selections from Shakespeare and other writers, and 
spread myself widely, as young declaimers do. My 
brother George, who had some taste in that line, 
often urged me to recite my pieces in our room be- 
fore we went to bed. In this way I acquired a full- 
ness of voice which has been of great service to me 
in public speaking during my whole life. 

I always was assigned to leading parts in our 
academy elocutionary exercises at York, and when 
I was but a small boy I took an inferior character 
in ' ' She Stoops to Conquer, ' ' which was played in 
the old court house at York by the young men of 
the town. 

When public reading became a popular institution, 
twenty or twenty-five years ago, I entered into the 
ranks of professionals with energy, and have prose- 
cuted the subject to a greater or less degree ever 
since. I studied it thoroughly with all the aid that 
the numerous books could furnish me, and wrote out 
a pretty thorough treatise for my own use, for I was 
called upon to teach the art, and had a number of 
private pupils. It became known that I was giving 
lessons to some persons, and I soon had more appli- 



192 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

cants for instruction than I have ever told, for some 
of them were under promise of secrecy. Some were 
teachers in schools, some were lawyers, several phy- 
sicians applied, a few candidates for the stage, some 
ministers, and one aspirant for a seat in Congress, 
to whom I gave a very few private lessons, but when 
he was defeated in the nomination by his party he 
gave up elocution. I received very few of these 
applicants. I did. not want the reputation of being 
a teacher of elocution, and would not give the time 
to proper instruction. I took several, however, and 
one of them was an ambitious local Methodist 
preacher, but a truly good man, who came to my 
study on Saturday nights to learn to read hymns 
and the Scriptures, and insisted upon giving me a 
dollar for every lesson, which I did not wish to take, 
but he seemed to be offended at my refusal. He 
began too late to read, and with all my pains I could 
not break him of a peculiar nasal pulpit tone, which 
he very much regretted. 

I gave two courses of ten lectures each in the 
Peabody Institute at $150 for each course. I had 
twenty to thirty pupils, but did not accomplish much 
with beginners, for I had no opportunity of giving 
each of them special instruction, which is absolutely 
necessary. The hour slipped around before I could 
hear each one read and correct their faults, and be- 
sides I always gave a lecture of twenty to thirty 
minutes duration. I have no conlidence in general 
class instruction in elocution. Unless there is fre- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 93 

quent reading by each pupil, teaching does not do 
much for practical reading. 

For some years I have given, by appointment of 
the Board, annual lectures to the Seminary students 
at Gettysburg. Many of them have gone out as ex- 
cellent readers of hymns and the Bible, as well as 
good declaimers. 

Of course I have frequently been invited to enter- 
tain societies, private assemblies, churches, and 
home parties; I have gone to more than twenty 
different towns and read for the benefit of religious 
societies and literary circles, but seldom asked for 
any pay. 

I could not mention the number of times I have 
read in Baltimore, publicly and privately, and have 
received the stereotyped notices of the newspapers. 

This business, like all others, has been overdone. 
Many pretenders, of both sexes, have ventured upon 
this stage, and they fail ingloriously ; while there are 
many also, of both sexes, who are wonderfully gifted, 
and some of them make a good living in the pro- 
fession. 

Of course I went to hear all the public readers 
who advertised in Baltimore, but I have never heard 
any tragedian on the regular stage. I should like 
to hear how some of the most eminent render certain 
passages in Shakespeare and other popular drama- 
tists. An actor of some eminence once called at the 
Peabody Institute, and upon being introduced to 
him I asked him how he would read a certain pas- 
13 



194 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

sage in Shakespeare's " Juliris Caesar," He read it, 
and I ventured to dissent from him. When he heard 
my reading, and it was but a single line, he ex- 
claimed, " By George, if I ever play Cassius I will 
adopt your reading, for it brings out the sense, which 
my rendering did not. ' ' This led to further conver- 
sation, and he gave me to understand that most 
actors read mechanically, without sentiment ; it was 
their profession, and their only aim was to get 
through the part as soon and as genteelly as possi- 
ble ; that while the audience was sometimes moved 
to tears or other demonstrations, the actors were 
really indifferent to all the emotion they seemed to 
feel, or were really winking to other actors behind 
the scenery. 

From many of these professional readers I learned 
much, but others taught me nothing. I introduced 
myself to some of them, and had some interesting 
and profitable interviews. Some of the gentlemen 
and ladies were cultivated people, and others were 
anything else. 

Some of these men occasionally have strange and 
unpleasant experiences. I rememeber once hearing 
a first-class professional reader perform in a country 
town where I happened to be at the time. In recit- 
ing a .humorous piece, which he did admirably, he 
was, of course, compelled to distort his face to bring 
out the full force, and this naturally set the audience 
into a roar, and a benchful of little boys seated just 
before him were particularly demonstrative in their 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 1 95 

applause. Before the noise had subsided the reader 
announced the impassioned defense of Cataline, 
which requires great physical exertion, loud and 
vehement declamation, the facial expression of 
anger, contempt and disdain, and necessaril}^ oc- 
casions distortion of the features. These little boys 
thought he was reciting another funny piece, and 
laughed uproariously. The reader was in the midst 
of the most impassioned part, and was dreadfully 
annoyed by this untimely demonstration. I leaned 
over and told the scamps to hush, and that this was 
not the time to laugh but to cry, but they could not 
understand. 

The reader committed an error. The transition 
from the broadly comic to the deeply tragic was too 
sudden. It was an offence against good taste as well 
as against mental philosophy. 

I have tried to push forward some young aspirants 
to fame and money, and have secured places for them 
by letters and personal efforts. A few have paid 
their expenses and perhaps had little over, but I 
remember one occasion where I was compelled to 
make up a deficiency to save a candidate for elocu- 
tionary honors from very serious embarrassment. I 
was under no obligation to pay other people's debts, 
but I did it, to the great relief of those particularly 
concerned. I vowed to quit recommending adven- 
turous and unfledged readers. 

I know one very ambitious young man, with whom 
I read in private several times at his request. No 



196 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

one else was present, and the practice was pleasant. 
He aimed at being a professional elocutionist, and 
hoped to make a fortune by following the business. 
He began his career in a neighboring city, and failed 
in bringing out a crowd and did not even pay ex- 
penses. He became disheartened, and came to tell 
me that after earnest prayer he felt it his duty to 
enter the Methodist minivStry, in which, however, he 
did not continue for more than several years, and 
then joined the Unitarians. 

Another young man, engaged in a very honorable 
and useful profession, came to me for instruction, 
and said that he was a candidate for the Methodist 
ministry. I took him as a pupil, but charged him 
nothing. I lost sight of him for several years, and 
was then told that he had been refused license on 
the ground of unsoundness in the faith, and had 
gone to the Unitarian church. My gratuitous serv- 
ice was all in vain. 

For several winters we had reading exercises con- 
ducted by me weekly in the Y. M. C. A. rooms, be- 
fore the present building v/as erected. We usually 
had good audiences, and spent agreeable evenings. 
Some of my old pupils usually read ; others I some- 
times invited, and occasionally there were volunteers, 
some of whom did well, but others badly. So many 
of the latter appeared that the audiences thinned 
out, and I became weary of it and broke it up. 
There were some exhibitions of such presumptuous 
vanity and affectation as are seldom witnessed. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 197 

THE LECTURE PLATFORM. 

It was about the year 1830 that the public lecture 
system was first introduced into Baltimore. It was 
a new institution, but it has since become universal, 
and has been pursued by some as a profession. Like 
many other good things, it was carried to a ridiculous 
extent, and many ambitious men, who had neither 
the qualifications of education, character nor grace- 
ful elocution, sought distinction and money in this 
field. Some secured both, and they became so pop- 
ular as public lecturers that their services were en- 
gaged months in advance at high prices. Some 
clergymen especially acquired immense reputations 
in this department, and were invited to remote 
places to be heard. Others of smaller note set 
themselves up in the profession, but a few experi- 
ments demonstrated their incapacity for the work. 

This ' ' lecturing' business ' ' would make a good 
subject for a first-class article, but this is not my 
design at present. 

I do not remember how it was that I became one 
of our earliest lecturers in Baltimore, but I am sure 
it was not of my own seeking or appointment, but I 
held forth on " The Honey Bee " as early as 1833 
in what was then called Warfield's church, in St. 
Paul street, now standing back of a house which 
N. C. Brooks built for a ladies' school. This lec- 
ture, with various additions, has been repeated by 
me more than twenty times in various places, and 
frequently by special request. It interested people 



190 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

everywhere, for it is wonderful how few persons 
know anything about the extraordinary habits of 
that little insect. I had large painted illustrations 
(as I have for all my lectures), which add much to 
the understanding of the subject and to the relief of 
the lecturer. 

The Smithsonian Institute in former years had 
regular series every winter. Prof. Henry invited 
me to give six or seven on "The Transformations of 
Insects ' ' and allied subjects, which were attended by 
crowds of persons. One evening in riding over to 
the Institute in the same carriage with several 
Southern members of Congress, I mentioned that I 
was going to show that there was such a thing as 
slavery among a certain genus of insects, and that 
the slaves were black, as is well known to be the case 
among ants. " Make the most of it, Doctor," said 
they. " Not more than nature has done," said I, 
" and that is enough. Even you Southern slave- 
holders would not do w^hat instinct leads ants to do, 
that is, steal your slaves from neighboring planta- 
tions and compel them to work for you. ' ' They 
were much gratified with this information, new to 
them, but I gave them to understand that in my 
judgment this slave-holding system of the ants did 
not justify human slavery. 

I afterwards gave another series in the Smith- 
sonian; subsequently I gave a course of six on " In- 
sect Architecture, ' ' ' 'Discoveries of the Microscope, ' ' 
and ' ' Some Wonders in the Structure and Life of 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER, 1 99 

Plants," in Dr. Butler's new clitirch. Prof. Henry 
was in the pulpit with me, and made some remarks 
afterwards. 

On numerous other occasions I held forth as lec- 
turer in Washington at Dr. Butler's church or lec- 
ture-room, and once before the Washington National 
Academy on "The History and Progress of Natural 
History in the United States. ' ' They passed a com- 
plimentary resolution to have my lecture published, 
which was the last I ever heard of it, as I expected, 
for it was an impecunious concern, and did not last 
long. 

Besides my regular and annual course in the Sem- 
inary and College at Gett3^sburg I have lectured in 
the College church and Agricultural Hall in the same 
town. On one occasion many years ago the students 
undertook to raise m.oney for some purpose connected 
with the College, probably for Linnaean Hall, and 
they sent for me to help them out of the difficulty, 
if possible. I went and gave them two discourses 
on "Adventures in the Alps," and raised $80 for 
them. It was a small sum, but it relieved them of 
some pressing demand. 

Many a poor church, Sunday-school or other re- 
ligious enterprise haA^e I thus aided on a small 
scale. My "Bee and Alps" lectures were in great 
demand, and though it is now thirty years since I 
was on the Alps, yet that lecture, with my pretty 
pictures, is still occasionally called for. 

I gave the " History of the Hessian Fly and the 



200 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Wheat Midge, with the best Methods of Preventing 
their Ravages, ' ' before the Agricultural Society of 
Frederick county, Md., and also the York County, 
Pa., Agricultural Society. 

Some years I have received as many as twenty in- 
vitations to lecture or read from different quarters, 
but I did not accept the half of them. I was seldom 
offered more than traveling expenses, but this was 
not the reason for declining. I did not like leaving 
home in the dead of winter, nor lecturing probably 
in a cold church to a small audience, if the weather 
should be bad, or the roads muddy, or the nights 
dark, nor being put, probably, in a cold room to 
sleep, nor being exposed in riding to the place from 
the railroad station, as was sometimes the case. I 
refused some invitations to places of easy access be- 
cause my conditions were not complied with, which 
were simply that a good audience was to be secured 
in advance by the sale of tickets, and all matters 
previously arranged, so that nothing was left to me 
but to do my work. 

The subjects of my lectures were generally scien- 
tific or literary. I never chose any of those so-called 
popular or ad captanduvi themes which some of our 
men delight in, such as matrimony and the like. 

Colleges at which I have given single lectures are, 
besides Gettysburg, the University of Virginia, at 
Charlottesville, where by invitation of the Students' 
Christian Association I gave on Sunday night, in the 
University Hall, "Young Men in History," Newark, 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 20I 

Del., AUentown, Pa., and the Agricultural College 
near Washington. I have received invitations from 
the college at Westminster, Md. , and Springfield, O. 

The following are the places where I have occu- 
pied the lecture platform: City of New York, Phil- 
adelphia several times, Lancaster, York frequently, 
Gettysburg frequently, Chambersburg, Harrisburg, 
Hanover, Lutherville, Towson, Ellicott City, Fred- 
erick, Westminster, Richmond, Cumberland, Kutz- 
town, Catonsville, Govanstown, Allegheny City, 
Selinsgrove, Pottstown, Kazleton, Mechanicstown, 
Reisterstown six times, Union Bridge, New Market, 
Salem, Washington several times, at Dr. Butler's 
church and two courses in the Smithsonian, Vv'il- 
mington, and other places not remembered. I was 
invited to Wythe ville and Marion, Va., Belief onte, 
Pa., and many other places, which I refused. 

The following is an extract of an article of mine 
in the Observer : 

"The minister who has acquired a respectable reputation as a 
lecturer or reader, has an opportunity of extensively helping 
religious objects without any expense to them, if he has mdina- 
tion ajid time. I know a man who has unfortunately for him- 
self become somewhat notorious in this line, who this winter 
has had over twenty invitations to exercise his alleged gifts, and 
not more than two of them offered anything like compensation. 
They ask him to leave his own work at home, to expose him- 
self to all sorts of weather, to run constant risks of his life on 
railroads, to wear out his clothes, to sleep in cold rooms and to 
submit to many other inconveniences, and the only return 
offered in most cases, is, 'your traveling expenses will be paid.' 
They expect a man to consent to an absence of two or three 



202 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

days from bis church and family, to be willing to lose the bene- 
fit of a wedding or two, to invite some other minister to attend 
to funerals and other pastoral labors, to yield to the contraction 
of a cold, to give up his books and warm study, and all for 
'your expenses will be paid.' Nothing said about torn coat, 
bedusted clothes, exposure to the vitiated air, the vulgar pro- 
fanity, the rude jostling, and tobacco-puddled floor of a crowded 
car ; nothing said about the risk of losing your carpet bag or 
breaking your limbs, or detention on the road, or collisions, or 
misplaced switches or perilous night travel! Oh! no; *your 
necessary expenses will be paid.' 

"This acquaintance of mine has had some rich experience in 
the lecturing business. Among many others he says that he 
was some time ago invited by a minister on the border of New 
York State, which would have required at least four days' ab- 
sence from home. ' Expenses would be paid ' and yet the 
minister would not consent to sell tickets and ascertain whether 
he could secure an audience ; he was not certain whether the 
people would come out, as it was a new thing, and was not even 
sure whether the 'expenses' would be made up. 

"Another minister, living in a small obscure village, wanted 
to 'surprise his people,' and this is the way it was to be done. 
The lecturer was to travel over seventy-five miles and to arrive 
in the village just at night- fall and nobody was to know it. 
The bell was to be rung and the people would come without any 
previous announcement. Then the ' lecturer ' was to enter the 
church, and thus 'surprise' the congregation! Happy concep- 
tion, most considerate minister! If the lecturer had been fool 
enough to go, he might have had about ten old women, and 
seven men, and four mischievous boys and two young darkies 
for an audience. Well, he did not go, and told the minister that 
he (the lecturer) could put him in the way of 'surprising' his 
people at a much cheaper cost, and that was by studying and 
preparing some good sermons and faithfully doing his pastoral 
duties, and if that did not 'surprise ' them they must be ineffa- 
bly stupid! He has not heard from that quarter since. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 203 

"A peculiar and forcible argument was once employed by a 
country pastor to induce the lecturer in question to accept an 
invitation. The place was an out-of-the-way village, where per- 
haps two or three newspapers were taken, where the people had 
little or no intercourse with the outside world, where there was 
no social influence and no literary culture, and the last place 
in the world where a man could make a hit and acquire reputa- 
tion. The argument urged by the minister was that a good 
lecture in his church would secure for the performer a good 
name, and thus promote his interest as a candidate for similar 
favors elsewhere ! Jehoshaphat ! a penny whistle to trumpet 
fame, and the bleating of a calf for an advertisement! 

"Some of our lecturing friends are sometimes sadly disap- 
pointed in their audiences. One of them told me that he once 
went over a hundred miles to lecture and his subject was ' Mat- 
rimony.' It happened that the weather was bad that night and 
his whole audience was made up of four old women, two very 
old men and three very young boys, one of whom was a darkey, 
the most inappropriate audience for a discourse on matrimony 
that can be conceived. There w^as no fitness of things. 

"Some men have adopted the lecturing business as a profes- 
sion, and being popular and immensely puffed they make money 
by it. They get from fifty to a hundred dollars a night. Some 
men get more, but they are not lecturers by profession. They 
are eminent ministers or scientists. Tyndall was paid by this 
city $1,000 for three lectures, and more at some other places. 
Gough charges from $250 to I300 a night, and some few lady 
lecturers are paid high prices. Saxe came to Gettysburg for 
one hundred dollars and Lossing for sixty dollars, and of that 
sum they were obliged to pay a good per cent, to the bureau in 
New York. 

"I hear some one ask, ' What is this bureau ? ' It is an office 
at which lecturers register their names, subjects and prices. The 
men at the office engage to furnish lecturers of any grade and 
price, and select from their list the men who they think will 
suit the applicants and send them, and of course they charge 



204 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

the lecturers for securing the engagement for them. Most of 
the business for the Northern States is carried on in this way, 
and frequently the people are sadly disappointed. 

"If an ambitious gentleman has, or thinks he has, a good 
lecture, let him deliver it in Turkey Buzzard School-house, and 
then pa}'^ the editor of ' The Cross-road Literary and Political 
Trumpeter' to blow loud and long. Let the aspirant send the 
puffs to the bureau, his name will be put on the list, and he may 
secure several paying engagements, but his shallowness will 
soon be discovered and he be dropped. I have seen such lauda- 
tions of some of our men in the papers which would have been 
worth at least one hundred dollars to them if they had 'put in ' 
at the bureau. I would advise these men not to select Matri- 
mony as a subject. They dp not handle it delicately. They 
compel ladies to hang their heads in shame ; they offend re- 
fined people, and cultivated audiences will not listen to them a 
second time. I know one man who broke down under the 
weight of a matrimony lecture. It was horribly offensive in its 
allusions and exceedingly commonplace in its treatment. He 
could not get on the bureau list, nor secure a hearing outside 
of his own narrow circle, and he wilted. Beware of lecturing 
on matrimony, whatever you may do about practically demon- 
strating it !" 



CHAPTER X. 

CHURCH CORRESPONDENCE. 

From my earliest ministry an extensive exchange 
of letters on church affairs has taken up much of my 
time. I do not mean to intimate that it was all time 
wasted; much of it, on the other hand, was useful 
labor, for it concerned the Church; there was no 
subject of great importance relating to her welfare 
agitated in the central section of our territory that 
did not come within the sphere of my correspond- 
ence. Many letters from beyond these central limits 
on special church subjects were also received, most 
of which required answers. I managed, however, 
to keep free from controversies existing elsewhere, 
or participation in any exciting subject; but in mat- 
ters of peaceful interest and the general good, in- 
volving no quarrel, I took an active part. Hence 
there were few of the most influential men of the 
Church (until they became so numerous) with whom 
I had not more or less intercourse by letter, and with 
a select few, in earlier days, the interchange was 
frequent. 

I also received my share of anonymous letters, 
some of which were outrageously abusive, a few ad- 

(205) 



2o6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

visory or minatory, none complimentary. One of 
the offenders in this business, whom I had often en- 
tertained at my house, was not aware that I detected 
his handwriting", which he had not sense enough 
carefully to disguise, but I allowed him to go to the 
grave without letting him know that I had discov- 
ered that he was guilty of such meanness. He 
played other dishonorable tricks upon me, but I said 
nothing. 

I never carried on a large correspondence on 
church affairs with men abroad. Epistolary inter- 
course between us native Americans and ministers 
in Germany has never been extensive. Inspector 
Hoffman, at that time "Inspector" of the Basle 
Missionary Institute, afterwards Superintendent at 
Berlin, and I had a rather lively correspondence 
concerning an unworthy German minister who 
brought a letter from him. I saw him subsequently 
at Basle, and we had a very satisfactory explanation 
of the affair. Several other German ministers wrote 
to me concerning some of their relatives in this 
country, but this was merely formal business, and 
not ecclesiastical. My scientific correspondence with 
foreigners was much more extensive. 

When I was in Germany I found that most of the 
clergy whom I saw cared very little about the 
Church in the United States, especially the English 
portion of it, and hence did not trouble themselves 
with correspondence. An improvement in this re- 
spect has taken place within the last twenty years. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 207 

and particularly at this time. Some of our Honie 
Mission Societies are, at this time, carrying on cor- 
respondence with the heads of several ^^lission Insti- 
tutes in Germany in relation to sending over young 
men to fill the numerous vacant German pulpits and 
mission stations among us. Our seminaries here 
cannot furnish the men, for the demands of English 
churches are more numerous than we can supply, 
and comparatively few of our theological students 
learn to preach German, and even if they can they 
prefer serving English, congregations. Hence the 
necessity of sending abroad for young men, and it is 
this fact which of late years has awakened a new 
interest in the Church of this country among many 
pious people in German}'. 

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 

I frequently received letters involving the most 
private interests, confessions of secret sins, earnest 
entreaties for prayer, as well as importunate solici- 
tations for aid. To maintain secrecy, which most 
of the correspondents requested, I never allowed 
my letters to be opened during my absence from 
home, or at any other time, even by my own family. 
Some of them involved affairs of great private inter- 
est to the writers, which I was compelled to regard 
as ' ' professional secrets ' ' as much as physicians are 
obliged to do. 

Aid was given to many a poor sufferer whose 
name was never known to any one besides myself, 



2o8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

advice to some in difficulty, warning- to some in 
danger of ruin, visits of condolence to private suf- 
ferers and to prisoners. On one occasion, through 
private correspondence of this kind, I thwarted the 
wicked schemes of an unprincipled lawyer to de- 
fraud some heirs of their inheritance who were 
friends of mine. He heard of it, and pursued me 
with malice until he died. 

SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE AT HOME. 

My studies in science necessarily brought me into 
contact and correspondence with many men. 

Dr. E. F. Melsheimer, of York county. Pa., and I 
were fast friends for many years, until he died. He 
was a capital entomologist, and was of unspeakable 
service to me in my recreative pursuits. I visited 
him once a year for many years at his simple home, 
and always admired his inflexible integrity, his un- 
pretending honesty of purpose, and his extensive 
and correct knowledge of entomology in particular 
and of things generally. He seldom left home, but 
devoted all his time to his studies and his practice 
of medicine. His letters were always valuable, be- 
cause they embraced the results of his patient re- 
searches. I am more indebted to him in this branch 
of study than to any man of all my extensive ac- 
quaintance. Many of his letters will be found among 
my papers. 

I became acquainted with that singularly gifted 
man, S. S. Haldeman, very early in my scientific 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 209 

pursuits. Entomology and concholog-y were his 
chief subjects when I first knew him, and his con- 
tributions to both these branches are invaluable. 
Our mutual visits and letters were numerous. He 
was a genial spirit, inexhaustible in his fund of in- 
formation on almost all subjects, without the least 
display of pedantry or affectation. I learned much 
from his very instructive conversation, and he wa§ 
ever ready to communicate by letter whatever he 
was asked. He had risen to eminence as a natur- 
alist, at home and abroad, by his writings and dis- 
coveries, and was highly respected and honored as 
a perfect gentleman. 

I first became acquainted with Agassiz in New- 
port, at the meeting of the Ainerican Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and somehow or other 
we ' ' took to each other ' ' at sight. I met him fre- 
quently afterwards, and visited him at Cambridge. 
We usually spoke German, and that may perhaps 
have contributed to drawing us nearer together. 
Sometimes he imperceptibly glided into French, but 
I did not venture on French with him, and drew 
him back to the language of the Vaterland, in which 
I could get along more fluently and correctly. He 
is a world-known man, and I need say nothing more 
of him here. His letters, which I have preserved, 
are highly valued by me. 

For more than twenty-five years I was as intimate 
with Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian, as any one 
could well be intimate with that extraordinary man. 
14 



2IO LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Sometimes he was familiarly cordial, and then 
again apparently cold and repellent. But all who 
knew him kindly overlooked these peculiarities, for 
he showed this disposition indiscriminately to all 
his friends. I have passed him in the Smithsonian 
unrecognized by him when he was profoundly ab- 
sorbed in some abstruse proposition in physics, or 
annoyed with the endless difficulties he encountered 
in the management of that institution. Upon meet- 
ing him a few hours afterwards, when he had per- 
haps worked out his philosophical problem, or had 
relieved his mind from some perplexity, he was 
cordial, and greeted me with engaging familiarity. 
I visited him whenever I went to Washington, which 
was two or three times a year. 

Our exchange of letters was not frequent, but im- 
portant. He sympathized with me deeply in my 
unpleasant relations at the Peabody Institute, I 
proposed to the Peabody Board that it would be an 
appropriate compliment to Prof. Henry to invite 
him to deliver the first lecture after the opening. 
They agreed, and he accepted the invitation. He 
gave considerable offence to the Board for his out- 
spoken plainness on the inexpediency of spending 
large sums of money on buildings for such institu- 
tions. His friends are well aware of his opinions 
on that subject, and on this occasion he was very 
candid. Several of his subsequent letters to me 
alluded to this matter I remember once rendering 
him a service for which he was very thankful. A 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 211 

large lot of rare German pamphlets of the times of 
the Reformation were sent to the Smithsonian 
library, the titles of which he requested me to 
translate. I did the work to his great satisfaction. 
Those pamphlets would be immensely valuable to 
any writer on the Reformation, for they are all 
originals. They are now in the Congress library. 

In one of his letters the Professor says : " I think 
the lectures you gave at the Smithsonian were 
among the most interesting we have yet received, 
and without further notice I have directed that you 
be put down for a course of four, five or six lectures 
on insects, to be delivered next winter. ' ' 

Prof. S. F. Baird, the distinguished successor of 
Prof. Henry, and I were on the most friendly terms 
of acquaintance and correspondence even before he 
went to Washington. Tie is a man of world-wide 
fame, and has rendered inappreciable service to the 
natural history of the country. His management 
of the Smithsonian for many years as Assistant Sec- 
retary and as head of the establishment, has secured 
the admiration of the whole scientific world. I may 
safely say that more than one hundred letters have 
passed between us, besides frequent visits, for I 
never go to Washington without calling on this most 
excellent of gentlemen at his office, and though 
almost constantly overwhelmed with visitors, yet I 
always have the entree, when some others are 
obliged to wait. 

Dr. Thomas Stewartson, of Philadelphia, and I 



2 12 LIFE .REMINISCENCES OF 

had a long- correspondence on the Ailanthus Silk 
Worm, but it resulted in nothing- practically bene- 
ficial. Mr. Grinnell, of the Department of Agri- 
culture, and I had frequent interchanges of letters 
on this same subject. 

W. T. Han-is, of Cambridge, Mass., one of our 
early entomologists, and an eminent writer, favored 
me with many letters, some of which I have care- 
fully preserved. 

That rare genius and thorough entomologist and 
general scholar, Benjamin D. Walch, of Rock Island, 
111., was an active correspondent of mine. He was 
an Englishman, and a graduate of Oxford. I do not 
know what induced him to come to this country, but 
he here achieved great reputation as a writer on this 
subject. Poor Walsh was fatally injured in a rail- 
road accident, and died deeply lamented. He gave 
me much more credit for my work in this depart- 
ment than I was conscious of deserving. 

Mrs. Mary Treat, who has acquired a fair fame in 
the science, and I exchanged a number of very pleas- 
ant letters. She is a keen observer and a diligent 
student. vShe has written numerous articles for the 
journals in a very piquant, attractive style, and her 
researches into the Ants of Florida have greatly en- 
hanced her reputation. 

Hon. Isaac Xewton, at that time (1865) Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture at Washington, entrusted to 
my care a number of the eggs and cocoons of the 
Ailanthus Silk Worm, urging me to come to Wash- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN TIINISTER. 213 

ington without delay. I reared tlie worms and dis- 
tributed the eggs very generally, but the culture or 
" education " of this insect, as the French call it, 
was never prosecuted to any great extent in this 
country, which I think was a mistake. This com- 
mission, of course, occasioned frequent letters be- 
tween Mr. Newton and myself, and not a few visits 
to him ; but he was not the man to feel interested in 
such a subject, and paid little attention to it. 

In the Reports of the Department of Agriculture 
for 1 86 1 and 1862 will be found two papers on the 
' 'Cultivation of the Ailanthus Silk Worm, ' ' for which 
Mr. Newton sent me $60. These papers brought me 
over 50 letters from various sections from Canada tq 
Bermuda. They enquired for further information, 
and not a few of my correspondents, presuming that 
I was a dealer in the " article," sent orders for eggs, 
worms, cocoons, and even the seeds of the Ailanthus 
tree. Even several years after the papers appeared, 
I received " orders " which have remained unfilled 
to this day. I never before got into such a scrape. 
Not a few of the letters came from ladies, some of 
which I politely answered. I highly delighted one 
of them, who had published a volume of poems, by 
quoting some of her own lines. She complimented 
me highly upon my cultivation of literature in con- 
nection with my writings upon the Ailanthus Silk 
Worm, and thought it an agreeable diversion of 
study. I did not tell the good lady that the lines I 
quoted were about all I knew of her book. Brack- 



214 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

enridge Clemens, of Easton, Pa., wrote extensively 
on Sphingidae and Microlcpidoptera. His work on 
the former family has been accepted by all culti- 
vators of the science, and by his permission it was 
transferred to my Synopsis of the North America 
Lepidoptera. He also kindly furnished for that 
book the analytical table of the families of Heter- 
ocera. This brought us into lively correspondence, 
and I once visited him at Easton. He died before 
reaching middle age. 

William Stimpson, a young man who did great 
service in Marine Annelida, and died as Curator of 
the Academy of Sciences at Chicago, and I were 
very intimate. I first met him in Washington, and 
exchanged many letters with him. 

Townsend Glover, a singular genius, for a long 
time entomologist in the National Department of 
Agriculture, was one of my most highly prized 
friends and correspondents. We saw each other 
three or four times every year, and always to my 
advantage. He was a most capital artist, as well as 
naturalist, and beautifully illustrated several orders 
of our insects. 

That distinguished geologist and eminent scholar. 
Principal Dawson, of McGill College, Montreal, and 
I have exchanged some letters on entomology, in 
which he felt some interest. He asked me some 
questions, which I was fortunately able to answer. 
I have frequently met him at the meetings of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 215 

ence. He is the author of " The Origin of the 
World," "Acadia," and of a large number of papers 
on various classes of invertebrate animals. He has 
lately been most worthily knighted by the Queen of 
England. 

Benson J. Lossing, the author of a number of 
American historical works, biographies, etc., was 
one of my correspondents. I had occasion to ask 
him some questions, which he politely answered, and 
this led to others from both sides. I have met him 
on several occasions ; once at Gettysburg, where he 
delivered an oration. 

I find that it will take up too much room to en- 
large upon this subject, and hence will curtail my 
remarks. The following gentlemen have been my 
correspondents for years: Prof. A. S. Packard, now 
of Brown (?) University, who has described many of 
our insects and furnished many useful papers and 
books. A. S. Grote, now of Buffalo, is one of the 
best authorities on Noctuidas, who has for more than 
twenty years devoted all his time to the study of 
that family, and has achieved wonderful success. 
His writings are numerous, and eagerly sought after 
by students. W. H. Edwards, now of Coalsburg, 
W. Va., is the author of the most elegantly illus- 
trated work on our diurnal Lepidoptera ever pub- 
lished, and of numerous single papers. J. A. Lint- 
ner, of Albany, a son of my old clerical friend, the 
Rev. Dr. Lintner, gives his exclusive attention to 
our science. He is connected with the New York 



2l6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

State ]\Iu3eum, and lias contributed valuable papers 
on our fauna. 

Samuel H. Scuddcr, of Boston, is one of the most 
learned and thoroug-h entomologists of the country, 
and his writings are .highly prized by all lovers of 
insect study. Wm. Saunders and the Rev. Mr. 
Bethune, of Canada, are intimate friends of mine 
and valued correspondents. 

C. V. Riley and J. B. Smith, of the Agricultural 
Bureau, and the Rev. G. D. Hulst, of Brooklyn, and 
many other entomologists, exchanged frequent let- 
ters with me. 

Prof. A. J. Cook, of Alichigan University, Lan- 
sing, Mich. , is the author of a most excellent book on 
the Bee. Years ago I sold him some valuable Ger- 
man entomological books, and ever since I have ex- 
changed occasional letters with him. He is also 
distinguished in microscop}'. 

Herman Strecker, of Reading, Pa., who has the 
largest collection of Lepidoptera in this country, and 
it may be said the largest private collection in the 
world, has been a valued correspondent for some 
years. These and others not mentioned here have 
for years been my correspondents. Indeed, there 
have been few leading entomologists of the country 
with whom I haA'e not had a greater or less episto- 
lary intercourse. In earlier life Prof. C. B. Adams, 
a conchologist of high distinction; T. M. Brewer, of 
Boston, the well known oologist; G. V7. Fahnestock, 
of Philadelphia; Townsend, Brevoort, Titian Peale 
and others, were constant correspondents. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 217 

There is no more proper place than this to men- 
tion a fact or two of no great significance, but still of 
some small interest to-myself. I never met the elder 
Audubon but once, and that was in Baltimore. I 
remember his features and manners very distinctly, 
but I had little opportunity of conversation with 
him. When in the British Museum in 1846, in Lon- 
don, where I had, through Doubleday's influence, 
the unobstructed entrance into those departments 
not open to the public — I mean the working and 
artists' rooms — one of the professors remarked that 
behind that screen — pointing to one — I would find a 
fellow countryman. I went, and found one of the 
young Audubons painting a copy of an Arctic ani- 
mal for the Book on American Quadrupeds, which 
the brothers were bringing out. I introduced my- 
self, and he received me very politely, especially 
when I told him that I was a good friend of his 
father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Bachman, of Charleston. 
I spent a pleasant hour with him. 

Some years ago I undertook to make a sort of 
bibliographical list of all the writings of natives of 
Maryland, no matter where they now live or when 
they had written or published their productions. 
Brantz Mayer and others aided me, and I was 
compelled to go through numerous catalogues and 
get information from various quarters. I was also 
obliged to write to a number of gentlemen then re- 
siding elsewhere for correct lists of their writings, 
and this brought me into pleasant relations with a 



2l8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

number of first-class men. I continued the work 
until the matter was nearly exhausted as far as my 
resources went, when I gave all my papers over to 
the librarian of the Historical Library, who has 
made large additions. 

I have among my letters an autograph from Pres- 
ident Fillmore, who wrote to me in response to a re- 
quest of General Howard for a speech of his, but he 
says he does not remember having ever delivered 
such a speech. 

Harris W. Hall, a literary character of Philadel- 
phia, furnished me with a list of his own writings 
and gave me information about others; and thus I 
might go on and mention a long list of other gentle- 
men with whom I exchanged letters on this specific 
subject. 

I knew that celebrated bibliophile and bibliopole, 
Sabine, of New York, pretty well, and also his 
namesake, of Boston, who wrote the " Loyalists of 
America. ' ' I was of some service to the latter in 
furnishing him a few items for the second edition of 
that book. 

With numerous other gentlemen, I was invited 
by that most industrious worker, the Rev. W. B. 
Sprague, of Albany, to supply material for his 
book, ' * The Pulpit of America. ' ' I furnished let- 
ters for this book concerning Dr. J. G. Schmucker 
and Dr. E. Hazelius, which may be seen in my 
" Fifty Years," pages ii, 66. 

With the gentlemen at the head of most of the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 219 

great libraries of the country I had frequent corres- 
pondence or personal interviews, such as Poole, 
Jewett, Trumbull, Spofford, Saunders, Schroeder, 
Cogswell, Vinton, Sibly and others. 

MY FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 

This was extensive in the course of years, although 
the number of persons with whom I exchanged let- 
ters was not very large. I should like to say more 
concerning some of them than I will have room for. 

The family of the Sturms, of Nurnberg, were very 
able correspondents. The father and two sons were 
authors, artists, engravers, printers and publishers, 
and issued many beautifully illustrated volumes on 
insects and plants, and did all the work themselves. 
After some years of correspondence and active ex- 
change of objects, I saw them at their home in 
Nurnberg, and was delighted with their society. I 
have many of their letters. They gave me many of 
their writings. 

Herr Dunker, at first of Cassel, where I saw him, 
and recently of Marburg, is one of the great paleon- 
tologists of Germany. Although I never studied 
that branch, yet I exchanged many letters, particu- 
larly on American works on that subject. I shall 
never forget the Sunday I dined with him, and the 
company at his table. He also gave me a number 
of his w^ritings. 

Herr Schaeffer, of Ratisbon, was a great writer 
on Lepidoptera. I never met him, but exchanged 



2 20 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

many letters and specimens. He began to write 
Eng-lisli to me which was not the most idiomatic, 
and when I told him he might thereafter write in 
German he was delighted beyond measure. Some 
of his writings may be seen in the Peabody Library, 
and show his wonderful learning in his department. 

Mr. Riehl, of Cassel, with whom I carried on an 
active exchange and correspondence before I saw 
him in his own house in 1846, was a bachelor, and 
treasurer of some great railroad, and treated me 
very kindly. Being with him on Sunday morning, 
I told him I was a church-going man, but he would 
not go with me. I met him at dinner on the same 
day at the house of Prof. D Linker, where was also 
present the Oberst-Lieutenant of the Hessian army, 
who told me that his father had served in the Hes- 
sian army against the Americans in the war of the 
Revolution, and moreover, he added, ' ' My father 
left one of his legs there." I remarked that his 
father had better stayed there himself, as many of 
the Hessians did. " In that case," he replied, " I 
would not be the General of the Hessian army." 
"True," [ rejoined, "but if you had been born 
there you might have reached a higher position." 
"And what is that?" he eagerly asked. "You 
might have been President of the United States," 
I answered, but this was something he could not 
understand. 

With Drs. Von dem Busch, Schmidt and Wilkens, 
of Bremen, I also had made exchanges before I saw 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTE?.. 221 

them in their own houses. The latter two Hved in 
splendid style on ' ' The Wall, ' ' as they call a fine 
avenue there. The intelligent wife of one of them 
spoke a little English. They seemed surprised 
when I refused to smoke in their elegantly furnished 
parlor. 

Profs. Germar and his nephew, Schaum, of Halle, 
Erichson, Troschel, and Klug, of Berlin, were fre- 
quent correspondents of mine, all of whom, with 
many more, I subsequently met in their own 
country. 

It was while I was in Germar's house one day in 
earnest conversation with him I heard the singing 
of a juvenile choir in the street, and upon inquiring 
into the meaning of the performance, he told me it 
was a company of boys from a charity-school singing 
for their support. The carrende years of Luther 
came to my mind. I hurried out, listened for a 
moment, and then I astonished the leader by put- 
ting into his hand a Prussian thaler note. Prof. 
Germar told me that a few kreutzers would have 
been enough, but I was too full of Luther for such 
a trifle. 

Guerin de ]\Ierreville, of Paris, was my principal 
French correspondent, and especially upon the 
Aiianthus Silk Worm. He gave, or afterwards 
sent, me all his writings on this subject, and besides 
speaks in exalted terms of my Synopsis of North 
American Lepidoptera in his Magazine of Zoology. 
When I saw Guerin afterwards in Paris I found he 



2 22 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

could not Speak a word of English or German, but 
we got along pretty well with my imperfect French. 
I found him on the fifth story of a very large apart- 
ment house. I presume he was a bachelor. 

Mr. W. Doubleday, of the British Museum, was a 
valued correspondent for several years before I met 
him in London in 1846. He was the most American 
Englishman I ever encountered, and he told me that 
if he had a self-sustaining position he would settle in 
the United States without delay. 

When I entered that department of the Museum 
in which he was engaged, and inquired for him of a 
person whom I saw, and gave him to understand 
that I was an American, he said, " You will find 
Doubleday more of an American than an English- 
man. " "I admire his taste, ' ' I remarked, and the 
man smiled. I spent many pleasant hours with 
Doubleday. He died a few years afterwards. 

I exchanged letters with a number of other scien- 
tific men in Europe ; many of their letters will be 
found in my various collections. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE DIETS, AND ACADEMY OF I^UTHERAN CHURCH HISTORY IN 
AMERICA— ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS — MINISTERS' EEAGUE— 
PREACHING IN STRANGE PUEPITS— GOOD ADVICE FROM 
MEMBERS— EVANGELICAI. AI.I.IANCE — FEIEDNER, OF KAI- 
SERSWERTH — CONSUBSTANTIATION. 

For several years before the first Diet was held, 
in 1877, there had been mtich discussion in the most 
of our Church papers on the expediency of holding 
what was called a Colloqu.ium, to which all Luther- 
ans were to be invited. The design was to discuss 
amicably those points on which the several sections 
of the Church were presumed to differ, particularly 
the teachings of the symbols on the nature of the 
real presence in the Lord's Supper, altar and pulpit 
fellowship with the denominations around ns, secret 
societies, and so on. 

On all other points there was no difference, or at 
least none which divided us. 

Any one who desires to learn the history of this 
protracted controversy must consult the Lutheran 
and Missionary of that period, Der LutJieraner^ of 
the Missourians, Die Liitherische Zeitschrift, and 
other Church papers. The Observer took no active 
part in the controversy, but was contented to furnish 
(223) 



2 24 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

its readers Avith occasionally a g-eneral view of the 
field of battle and the utterances of the most dis- 
tinguished warriors. 

There was a display of much theological learning, 
of ancient and modern church history, of logical 
acumen, of narrow-minded sectarianism, and, in 
many instances, of bitterness and rancor. It was 
amusing to see that good and amiable brother, 
Brobst, making his politest bow to the Missourians, 
and burning the most fragrant incense in their nos- 
trils, and acknowledging his most hearty acquies- 
cence in their theology, yet spurned from their 
presence and derided for his inconsistency merely 
because he belonged to the "heretical" Synod of 
Pennsylvania. It was no matter to the Missourians 
how thoroughly orthodox a man might be in Luth- 
eran theology, yet if he did not adopt their procrus- 
tean practice, and come out from all Church associ- 
ations, he was utterly condemned and repudiated. 

The lowans were a little more liberal, for they 
consented to maintain a sort of step-sisterly connec- 
tion with the General Council by sending delegates; 
but they have not as yet united with it, nor will they 
until the Council abandons some of the notions and 
practices which it has derived from American train- 
ing or European unionism. 

There was no prospect of a settlement of these 
differences, and it was thought by some that a gen- 
eral Colloquium would heal all difficulties by recon- 
ciling all parties. It was considered the grand pan- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 225 

acea for the Church's sores. Some men on both 
sides were in favor of it. Even the Council as a 
body seemed inclined towards it, and made certain 
propositions to the General Synod, which the latter 
body rejected, and decided it was not best to hold 
such a meeting, presuming that the desired result 
would not be attained. This was done at the meet- 
ing of 1875, in Baltimore, Md. 

This settled the question of a Colloquium. It was 
then I proposed to hold a Diet, hoping that in the 
course of time, and by the annual assembling of men 
of all schools, and the discussion of subjects of gen- 
eral interest, aspsrities might be softened, doctrinal 
differences adjusted, and personal estrangements 
reconciled. I called it Diet, and not Congress, Con- 
vention or anything else, because it was a new term 
in modern church language, and because it was ap- 
propriate. The name pleased everybody. The 
question now was to bring it about. To refer it to 
Synods I knew would occasion endless differences 
as to time, place, persons and everything. To con- 
sult a large number of men individually would 
require immense correspondence and labor, and 
would result in no uniformity of opinion. To call a 
large meeting was inexpedient, troublesome and 
useless. After having ascertained the opinions of 
some influential men of various sections as to the 
expediency of the measure, and having published 
some of them in the Observer^ and received favor- 
able responses through this and other papers, 



2 26 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I concliicled that the Church was ripe for the move- 
ment. Some good men were doubtful of its suc- 
cess, as they are about everything- that is new, but 
even these finally approved of it when they saw the 
programme adopted and the expression of the very 
general favorable opinion. Having thus secured a 
favorable public sentiment, I then consulted Dr. 
Seiss, and we agreed to take the responsibility of 
selecting the time, place, subjects of discussion, 
essayists, officers, rules — in a word, the entire and 
exclusive management of the whole affair. We 
apprehended some opposition, but we disarmed it by 
making it plain that this was the only way, under 
the circumstances, that the Diet could be brought 
about. Our men, whose opinion was worth hearing, 
were satisfied, and we have never heard of any com- 
plaint, publicly. So well satisfied was the Diet with 
our management that we were appointed by the body 
to make arrangements for holding the second and 
the third. The Doctor and I went to work, and 
nearly the whole of it devolved on me, for having no 
pastoral charge at the time I had more leisure. I 
wrote more than forty letters and cards concerning 
the first Diet, and perhaps more for the second. We 
selected the subjects and the essayists, and I an- 
nounced them. Nearly all promptly accepted. We 
had not much difficulty in agreeing upon the themes 
and men. Each of us proposed a certain number, 
and the exchange of a few letters settled any diffi- 
culties. We yielded mutually. Dr. Seiss and I 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 227 

through life have been warm friends, and worked 
harmonioTisly or differed gracefully. The difficulty 
was in adapting subjects to certain men, but we 
finally succeeded, to the general satisfaction of the 
parties. A few objected to the themes selected for 
them, and in one or two cases we made a change : 
but generally they acquiesced. What determined 
our selection of some men in preference to others of 
equal claims and rights was location, synodical rela- 
tion, ecclesiastical influence and personal considera- 
tions. We soon heard from various quarters that 
offence was given because certain first-class men 
were overlooked. This we expected, but we had 
determined not to enter upon any public defense of 
our conduct, for we were well aware that some 
would be displeased no matter who would be pre- 
ferred. One of the English papers of the General 
Synod opened upon us, and charged us with sectional 
partiality, and (the editor) declared that ' ' he would 
have nothing to do with the Diet," and he never 
has. had since ; and let me gently add that the 
Church, has had, for five or six years, very little to 
do with or for him. A German editor of the Gen- 
eral Synod, apprehending perhaps a failure of the 
enterprise, and wishing to clear himself of responsi- 
bility in advance, gravely told his readers that he 
' ' had nothing to do with getting up the Diet, ' ' and 
he never will have ! ! ! But he spoke kindly of it after 
it had been held and had become an acknowledged 
success. Of course the papers in the Missouri inter- 



2 28 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

est did not speak favorably of it, but they had no 
influence outside their own circle. 

To our surprise and gratification one hundred min- 
isters and theological students attended the first 
meeting, although it was held between Christmas 
and New Year. And the result is before the 
Church ! ! ! 

I have kept a large number of the newspaper arti- 
cles which were published upon the subject, and 
they are nearly all commendatory, reflecting the 
general opinion of our influential and thoughtful 
men.* The arrangements for the second Diet were 
very like those for the first, most of the labor for 
which I also performed. This also was a success, 
as we hope all those to come may be. 

Full reports of the proceedings were made by the 
daily papers of Philadelphia, which were copied into 
several of our own Church journals and widely read. 
Five or six leading papers of other denominations 
gave large space to the proceedings, and spoke very 
favorably of us. All the papers read at the Diets, 
accompanied with the remarks of others present, 
were published in neat volumes. 

A new feature was introduced into the second 
Diet. Two "speakers" were appointed to follow 
each essayist, so that we might be certain of having 
the matured thought of three competent men at 
least upon every theme. 

^ Preserved in the Archives of the Lutheran Historical Society 
in the Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 229 

The fault of both meetings was that the number 
of essays was too large, the essays too long, for most 
of them exceeded the prescribed forty-five minutes, 
and consequently the time was too short for the dis- 
cussion. The following communication written by 
me, which appeared in the Observer^ gives a fair 
exhibition of the first meeting : 

IMPRESSIONS OF THE DIET. 

I never saw a more happy, I may say, jubilant company of 
men than on the close of the first day of the meeting. Bvery 
one saw that tjie experiment was a complete success, and hearty 
congratulations were exchanged all round. Men of different 
synods, schools arid tendencies greeted each other with the 
heartiest hand-shaking, and joyous smiles beamed on every 
face. 

The first session was opened with some apprehension : it was 
not known whether half of the essayists had arrived ; it was 
feared that sufficient notice had not been given; it was un- 
certain whether even the neighboring ministers would be 
present; it was known that some worthy men were not satisfied 
with the arrangement; but when in the course of the morning 
our rural brethren were seen coming in by dozens, many intelli- 
gent laymen taking their seats, and many ladies gracing the 
church by their presence, all apprehensions vanished, and we 
began in our hearts to sing the Gloria in excelsis ! and when, 
at the end of the second day the names of precisely one hun- 
dred Lutheran ministers were recorded as present, it was hard 
to subdue a very emphatic expression of Bless the Lord, O my 
soul f 

I have not taken the trouble to ascertain how many synods 
were represented, but I can easily determine te^i, and probably 
there were more, and this shows that the conjectures of some 



230 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

of our friends that Christmas week was au unseasonable time, 
were unfounded. You could not collect a larger number of 
ministers, paying their own expenses of travel and entertain- 
ment, at any other season. Philadelphia, too, was just the 
place, for there are over 300 Lutheran ministers within three 
hours' distance. 

This meeting has disappointed two classes of men: first, that 
class which was not favorable to it. They have no doubt bit 
their nails in holy ire, and will take their vengeance on us by 
depreciating its character, and will make ugly faces at its 
" unionistic " tendencies. The other class are those who were 
fearful of a failure as to the number of attendants and lack of 
interest. They have been most agreeably disappointed, and 
have joined with us in the exclamation, Laus Deo. 

Most of us have heard of dissatisfaction in various quarters, 
but nothing more will be said on that point. We could not do 
otheiivise in this first Diet. We could not make it general ; it 
was intended to be territorial, and not universal. It was 
thought that men from a great distance could not come at their 
own expense. It was not certain whether even those near at 
hand would make it a success. We could not possibl}' select 
more than a small number of essayists, not because of a paucity 
of men, but because we could not protract this first Diet longer 
than three days; but why othcj' men were not chosen in place 
of those on the programme is not for me to say. It is thought 
they were all competent men; but knowing that even these 
good reasons why some other men were not selected will not 
satisfy them, I had better say nothing more about it. I might 
get m^-self into a difficult5^ 

There never was a meeting held in our Church in which more 
respectful feeling, more tender regard for the opinions of others, 
more fraternal sentiment, were displayed than in this. There 
was not an unkind word uttered from beginning to end. There 
was an utter absence of all harshness of expression or show of 
fretfulness. There were not even signs of impatience or any 
evidences of disappointment. The fullest liberty of speech w^as 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 23 1 

allowed aud indulged, and very strongly divergent views w-ere 
expressed, but everything w'as said and done in the kindest, 
most gentlemanly spirit. The most decided Lutheran doctrines 
w^ere maintained by some men of the General Synod; the most 
ultra pulpit and altar exclusiveuess was advocated by some men 
of the Council ; the very highest confessional standpoint was 
assumed by some of both bodies - and whilst lively discussion 
grew out of all, yet there was no acerbity of feeling, but on the 
contrary the most amiable temper and mutual respect displayed 
all through. 

Profound research, patient investigation and thorough scholar- 
ship were shown in most of the essays, equaling in all these 
qualities according to the judgment of a competent critic 
present, those of the Episcopal Congress and of the recent 
Alliance at Detroit. 

The discussions also brought out much talent and mental 
acuteness. There was no attempt at making speeches — that 
would have been out of place — but there was hard logic, forcible 
reasoning, ardent feeling, occasionally enlivened b}^ smart 
repartee aud flashes of genuine wdt. Indeed, such was the pre- 
vailing good humer of the house that the president was com- 
pelled more than once to subdue the demonstration of hilarious 
mirth. 

It was a grand occasion. So well pleased w^ere the men that 
they were reluctant to vote a final adjournment, and no wonder 
that a committee was demanded to make arrangements for 
another Diet. We have some experience now; we shall be able 
to avoid some errors in future. I do not mean that our selec- 
tions hereafter will give more satisfaction, for w^e cannot choose 
everybody, and unless we do some wall consider themselves lai- 
appreciated and complain thi'oiigh their friends^ as heretofore. 
One of the men stated that wherever four Germans met there 
v^^x^five opinions; I have sometimes thought that it was pretty 
much the case with us, the descendants of Germans; for we find 
a fearfully harassing discord of opinion as to who should be 
selected to read papers at a Lutheran Diet; but let the commit- 



232 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

tee do their duty fearlessly, and the majority of us will be sat- 
isfied even if our names should not be on the list. 

The expediency of a third Diet was much spoken 
of in some circles, but there was no hearty acquies- 
cence among some leading men outside of the Gen- 
eral Synod. A few of them did not attend either of 
the previous Diets, and one reason was that they 
have no confidence in our Lutheran orthodoxy and 
will not associate with us ecclesiastically. I really 
believe, however, that one reason for the indiffer- 
ence of others of the Council to a third Diet was 
that they were wearied to exhaustion by the inter- 
minable theological discussions at the meetings of 
their Synods, and did not desire a repetition of it. 
That feature has now been removed, but that is a 
recent event, and they have not recovered from the 
fatigues of a few years ago. 

Here will appropriately come in a notice of the ' 

ACADEMY OF LUTHERAN CHURCH HISTORY IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 

This is one of my creations, which at once secured 
the approbation of all our ministers whose opinions 
are worth anything. I called my good friend, the 
Rev. Dr. B. Sadtler, especially into consultation, 
and had informal conversations with other ministers 
in Baltimore and elsewhere in whose judgment and 
church loyalty I had any confidence. 

The result was the following, as copied from an 
article to the Observer of September 12, 1894: 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 233 

A LUTHERAN HISTORICAL ACADEMY FORMED. 

At St. Mark's Lutheran church in Baltimore, Md., last week, 
an organization for the "Cultivation and Promotion of Studies 
in the History of the Lutheran Church and her Missions," was 
formed. This organization is a result attained through the 
personal efforts of Rev. J. G. Morris, D. D., LL. D., and we may 
truly call him father of it. A constitution was adopted and 
officers elected. Dr. Morris was chosen president, and Dr. F. Ph. 
Hennighausen secretary and treasurer. The vice-presidents 
are Prof. Wackernagel, Dr. Edw. T. Horn, of Charleston, S. C, 
Prof. Graebner, St. Louis, and Dr. Swensson, President of Beth- 
any College, Lindsborg, Kans. The Council is composed of the 
officers of the Academy and the following persons: Dr. B. J. 
Wolf, of Gettysburg; Dr. Sadtler, of Baltimore; Dr. Seiss, of 
Philadelphia, and Rev. C. F. Dallman, of Baltimore, 

The following persons participated in the organization: Drs. 
Morris, Hennighausen, Miller, Sadtler, Studebaker, Hartman, 
Scholl, and Revs. Felton, Schmidt, Dallman, Zimmerman and 
Garland, of Baltimore, with Prof. Turner, of Lutherville, Dr. 
Yonce, of Roanoke, and Rev. Hartman, of Altoona. 

Thirty-nine others of the Lutheran Church in America, hav- 
ing sent in their assurance of interest and co-operation in the 
work and their willingness to aid the movement in every way 
possible, were duly elected members of the Academy. 

The next meeting of the Academy will be held in Philadel- 
phia about Easter. Announcement of exact date will be made 
later. An initiation fee of twenty-five cents was fixed. Any 
person belonging to the Lutheran church may become a mem- 
ber of the Academy upon the payment of this fee. The appli- 
cant is to be nominated by some member of the Council. The 
design of the Academy carries it above au}^ distinctions which 
may be found amongst Lutherans. Its purpose is purely his- 
torical, and in the interests of the entire Church in America — 
the Church of the Reformation. It is therefore hoped that all 
differences will be forgotten in the co-operation and prosecution 
of the work of this Historical Academy of the Lutheran Church. 



234 LIFE REMINISCE^XES OF 

A Constitution was adopted, and I immediately 
proceeded to solicit contributors of papers to be read 
at the first meeting in Philadelphia. Some declined 
for various reasons, some promised conditionally, 
but a sufficient number to make up a first-class pro- 
gramme promised and kept their word. We met on 
AVednesday morning of Easter week, 1894, in the 
lecture-room of Dr. Seiss' church, and about eighty 
ministers and theological students and others were 
present during the first session. The papers were : 

1. Sources of information concerning the history 
of the Lutheran Church in this country, by myself. 

2. The education of ministers by private tutors 
before the establishment of theological seminaries, 
by the Rev. Dr. B. Sadtler. 

3. The influence of language in modifying the 
early history of the Lutheran Church in the city of 
New York, by the Rev. Dr. J. Nicum. 

4. The English Hymnology of the Lutheran 
Church in America, by the Rev. Dr. M. Sheeleigh. 

5. The early history of the Lutheran Church in 
Reading, Pa., by the Rev. Dr. Fry. 

6. The influence of rationalism in the Lutheran 
Church of America, by the Rev. Dr. G. F. Spieker. 

7. The causes of the extinction of Lutheranism in 
the Swedish Lutheran churches on the Delaware, by 
the Rev. S. E. Ochsenford. 

8. The Economics of the Lutheran Church in 
America, by the Rev. Prof. Graebner (read by proxy). 

There were other papers on the programme, but the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 235 

writers were not present. The meeting was con- 
sidered a success, and we resolved to meet again 
next year, 1895. 

The second meeting of the Academy was held in 
the sanie place as the first on Tuesday and Wednes- 
day, April 16 and 17, 1895. 

Omitting all preliminaries and incidentals, which 
may be learned from the Church papers of the time, 
I will proceed to giA^e the programme, which will 
interest more readers than other routine details : 

1. The history of local churches urged upon pas- 
tors, by J. G. M. 

2. The history of the educational work of the 
Kansas Conference of the Augustana Synod, by the 
Rev. C. A. Swensson (read by proxy). 

3. The significance of the Lutheran Church for 
Christianity, by the Rev. Dr. J. B. Remensnyder. 

4. Early history of the Lutheran Church in 
Georgia, by the Rev. Dr. D. M. Gilbert. 

5. The early history of Charles Porterfield Krauth, 
by the Rev. Dr. A. Spaeth. 

6. Deaconess work in America, by the Rev. Dr. 
G. U. Wenner. 

7. Pennsylvania and the Lutheran Church in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by the Rev. 
Theo. Schmauk. 

8. What an American saw in Scandinavian coun- 
tries, by the Rev. Dr. M. W. Hamma. 

9. Shadow of Luther in the Orient, by the Rev. 
Dr. W. E. Parson. 



236 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

10. Missourianism in Germany, by the Rev. H. 
Walker. 

11. Lutheran bishops of Denmark invited to con- 
secrate bishops for Episcopal churches in America, 
by the Rev. F. P. Manhart. 

12. Liturgies and set forms of worship, by the 
Rev. Dr. Seiss. 

* * The presentation of this program, ' ' writes the 
Secretary in the Observer^ " is sufficient evidence to 
show the reader of this report that the meeting could 
not have been anything but profitable and interest- 
ing. The large number who were present showed 
the appreciation of the matter presented by the 
closest attention from beginning to end. There is 
no doubt of the fact that these meetings will become 
more and more interesting from year to year. That 
was a happy idea of the venerable President to in- 
augurate the movement, since it affords Lutherans 
an abundant opportunity to learn more of the history 
of the Church, and to appreciate the potent influ- 
ence of the Church as brought out in her rich history 
of nearly three centuries in America. ' ' 

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. 

My judgment on various points of church order 
and law has often been asked, and only because, I 
presume, some people think I have some knowledge 
in such, matters from long experience, for I have no 
claims upon the character of a church lawyer. 

The Council of a country church unceremoniously 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 237 

voted the minister out, and some of the members 
applied to me for my opinion on the proceeding, 
which I gave as follows, and published it in the 
Observer January, 1880: 

CAN A CHURCH COUNCIL DISMISS A MINISTER ? 

A few weeks ago the above question was sent to me by a lay- 
man of one of our Maryland country churches, which I an- 
swered substantially in the following way: 

He put me to some disadvantage by not informing me 
whether such an act had really been done, or was contemplated; 
nor did he tell me where it had occurred, nor did he say a word 
about the constitution of the church, nor of the character and 
conduct of the minister ; but he simply put the naked question 
to me, and I replied accordingly. I said: 

1. If the constitution of your church gives the right to the 
council exclusively to eled the minister, then they have the 
right to dismiss him after due trial, for they are virtually his 
only constituents, 

2. If the congregation, however, voted to discharge the min- 
ister, it becomes the duty and business of the council to execute 
the sentence by informing him of it officially; but in this case 
they would only be the agents of the congregation, and hence 
it would not be their exclusive act. 

3. If the congregation universally had become dissatisfied 
with the minister, and no longer attended the services, and 
withheld their support, and yet did not wish to eject him by 
vote, but feeling that the welfare of the church demanded his 
removal, then the council might, by universal consent of the 
church, advise him to retire; but they would have no right per- 
emptorily to send him away. Even locking the church against 
him, or renting the parsonage to some one who might issue a 
writ of ejectment, would be unlawful and revolutionary, as I 
will presently show. 



238 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

WHAT WERE MY REASONS? 

1. I presumed, of course, that the church or congregation 
elected the man, and they alone had the power to compel him to 
leave. You might as well maintain that the commissioners or 
orphans' courts or any other county officers, have a right to 
dismiss the sheriff or any other officer elected by the people. 

2. The council is elected to discharge certain duties prescribed 
in church constitutions and in our Formula of Government, but 
no authority is given to them over the person of the minister. 
See Formula, Chap. III., Sec. 6, and Chap. IV. 

3. No minister can be dismissed by the congregation, even 
much less by the council for any cause, without giving him an 
opportunity of defense. See Form., Chap. XII. 

4. Even if the minister had behaved badly, or if his useful- 
ness were at an end and the church were declining, and it were 
extremely desirable to employ another minister, not even in 
that case, nor in any other conceivable case, has the council the 
exclusive right to discharge him. 

4. No minister who has been regularly elected can be dis- 
charged without a majority vote of those entitled to vote, and 
hence the council has really as such nothing to do with it. 

5. If any complaints damaging to the minister are made to 
the council, or if they themselves make the charges, he must 
be cited and tried and found guilty, before any action for his 
dismissal can be lawful. See Form., XII. 

6. Even if the minister is tried and condemned by the coun- 
cil, their action is not final until he has had an opportunity of 
being heard by the synod to which he may appeal. Form., 
III., 6. The synod has no right to compel a church to retain a 
minister, but it claims the privilege of examining accusations 
against him and vindicating his rights when they are assailed. 
The congregation may keep him or not, but the council alone 
has no right either to reject or retain him, 

7. A council has no right to hold a church meeting relating 
to church discipline or government without the presence of a 
minister. Form., IV , 3. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER^ 239 

8. No minister dismissed by a council without law or pre- 
cedent, should submit to such an oppressive decision, but 
appeal to the church or united parish which elected him, even 
if the combined councils of the parish agreed in his dismission. 
If the united congregations sustained the action of the councils, 
then perhaps he had better retire, but of his own voluntary act. 
But if the congregations stood up for him against the councils, 
or any one of them, let him hold on and have these disturbers 
of the peace turned out at the next election. 

The act of a council in turning away a minister is an unwar- 
ranted presumption and tyrannous persecution. Such men dis- 
grace the office to which they have been been unfortunately 
elected, and they should be resisted to the utmost. At the same 
time I will say that I would lose my respect for any miinister or 
congregation that would tamely submit to such oppression on 
the part of the council. 

I do not know whether my answer pleased the questioner, as 
I have not heard from him. Perhaps he was a member of the 
usurping council, and no wonder he did not answer. 

I presume that most ministers of any infinence are 
sometimes asked for advice on professional subjects 
by others than their own church members. 

A very respectable minister, who I had reason to 
think did not like me personally, yet had some re- 
spect for my judgment in some matters, came to me 
once, even before I was out of bed (it was in the 
country, during a meeting of ministers). He had 
just received notice that the title of '* D. D." had 
been conferred upon him by a college of sixth grade 
and not of our Church. He was evidently gratified 
at this mark of appreciation, but still thought that 
he deserved notice from a higher source, which was 



240 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

true. He was uncertain whether he should accept, 
because an acceptance would debar him from a similar 
recognition from one of our own more influential col- 
leges. I advised him to decline the proffered honor, 
and gave him good reasons. I do not know whether 
he took my advice, but he is called Doctor, and 
many think he is entitled to it, and the result is he 
has never been thus honored by any of our institu- 
tions, though his name has been proposed. 

I will select another instance of a queer character. 
The deacon of a church in a western State asked for 
advice in the following case : The parish is composed 
of four churches, and all the Councils form a joint 
body. The pastor resigned at one of the joint meet- 
ings, without previously announcing his reason for 
calling the meeting, and his resignation was ac- 
cepted. He then recommended his successor, and 
said ' ' he would wait for his back pay if we took his 
man ; if not, we would have to pay him every cent 
before he would let us call another pastor. " " The 
Joint Council sent his man a call then and there. . . . 
He accepted and is now here. Now some refuse to 
support him, claiming that the call was not legal, 
because the Councils elected him instead of the con- 
gregations. ' ' 

" There is another point on which we want your 
judgment. If three of our churches elect a pastor, 
and one rejects him, can the three compel the oppos- 
ing church to accept and help to pay him ? ' ' 

" Some also hold that the election was not legal, 
because the object of the meeting was not stated/' 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 24I 

" There is a disagreement also as to the nieaning 
of Sec. 5, Chap. VI., of the Discipline, and some 
maintain that it applies only to a parish consisting 
of one congregation and not of several. ' ' 

' ' Please tell ns what we must do to give a man a 
legal call; is it done by the Joint Council, or by each 
church, or by each Church Council?" 

To this I replied in substance as follows : 

* ' I never before heard of such conduct on the part 
of a minister ; if you state it correctly, namely, ' that 
if the parish would call the man whom he recom- 
mended, he, the pastor, would wait for the back sal- 
ary you owe him, but if you did not take his man, 
and prefer some one else, he would make you pay 
him every cent before he would allow you to call 
another pastor.' Now, I 'agree with him that a 
church should pay what it owes to a minister before 
another is called, but that a man should manage to 
get as his successor another man upon condition that 
you pay him his back salary is unheard of. I admit 
he might properly say 'you shall not call another 
man until you have paid me, ' but to say ' take the 
man of my choice, and not of yours, and I'll trust 
you longer, but if you do not take him I will press 
my claim instantly and compel you to pay, ' is com- 
ing nearer to what the apostle calls * lording it over 
God's heritage ' than anything I know. 

"The Joint Council plainly transcended their au- 
thority by calling a minister without giving the 
whole parish an opportunity to vote. This is an act 
16 



242 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

of usurpation and presumption not sanctioned by 
our church law or usage. See Chap. VI., Sec. 5. 
No Synod would justify such proceedings, and no 
parish should submit to it. 

^' In regard to Chap. VI., Sec. 5, it is true that the 
language seems to imply that only one church is 
meant ; but it has been the universal practice of our 
Church that when the parish consists of more than 
one congregation, and one of them dissents from the 
choice of the others, the whole number of votes 
should be counted, and if the candidate receives two- 
thirds of the whole he is declared elected, and the 
dissentients are expected fraternally to submit, just 
as in a civil election where a congressional district is 
composed of several counties. If a candidate gets 
a majority of all the votes he is elected, although 
one or even two counties may cast a majority of their 
votes against him. So in a church election, while 
each congregation votes by itself, yet the ballots of 
all together are counted as a whole, and if a candi- 
date receives two-thirds of the whole, no matter 
from which congregation they come, he is declared 
to be chosen by the whole parish. 

"In answer to your last question I would say that 
according to our church government the united 
voices of two-thirds of the churches of a parish is 
necessary to a legal call, and not the individual call 
of each congregation, and much less that of the 
Joint Council. The minister is called as the pastor 
of the whole parish, and not of any particular church 



AN OLD LUTHERAN ]v.IINISTER. 243 

of the parish, and therefore a united call from two- 
thirds of the legal voters is necessary to render it 
legal. It follows that your call of the present min- 
ister by the Joint Council is illegal, and not binding 
upon any one of your congregations. Your Joint 
Council violated the law in electing him, and he did 
the same in accepting it. The dissentient churches, 
as well as individuals, have a right to complain and 
to appeal to Synod for a vindication of their rights. 

" You have not asked my advice as to relieving you 
of this difficulty, and hence I will not give it, and 
only remark that you are in a very anomalous posi- 
tion, from which I fear you will not easily be ex- 
trica.ted. ' ' 

I once received a letter requesting me to name 
six ministers in the order of their merit, in my 
judgment, who would be adapted to a congregation 
of commanding influence. Fortunately for me there 
was no mention of place nor of any other particu- 
lars, although I guessed. I took advantage of this 
lack of specialty, and replied that I could not possi- 
bly give a sensible answer without knowing whether 
it was a town, city or country church, whether Ger- 
man preaching was required, whether the congrega- 
tion was intelligent, liberal and well trained, whether 
there was a parsonage and a flourishing Sunday- 
school, whether the post-office was near at hand and 
the roads good, and a number of other questions of 
like character. 

I heard nothing of it after my reply. 



244 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

A very worthy minister once came to me and 
complained that he could not read half an hour 
without falling asleep. He deplored this infirmity, 
for he was sincerely anxious to prosecute his studies, 
but encountered this serious difficulty. I advised 
him to consult a physician, for I had no doubt his 
somnolency proceeded from torpidity of his liver. 
It may have been indolence, in part, or lack of in- 
terest in his work, or dullness of comprehension, 
and yet he seemed ainbitious of improvement. I 
apprehended the trouble was physical, and I could 
give him no better advice than to submit to medical 
treatment. He also complained of the difficulty of 
finding suitable, or rather satisfactory texts on which 
to preach. For this I kindly rebuked him, and said 
that Bible readers (and he should be one) would 
come across numerous suggestive and pregnant 
texts or themes, which he should note in a little 
blank book, such as every minister should have 
about him. In addition I suggested the names of 
several books inade up of classified texts, but recom- 
mended specially that he should take up the Sunday 
lessons of the Church Year, which he would find in 
the Church Almanac. I added that for doctrinal 
sermons he might give a systematic series founded 
on the Creed, or the Confession, The Order of Sal- 
vation, and for practical subjects he should use the 
Epistles, the Lord's Prayer, the Sermon on the 
Mount, the Ten Commandments, and the whole 
Bible. I do not know whether he followed my 
advice. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 245 

A 5^oting" man came to me for advice about study- 
ing for the ministry. He was a perfect stranger. I 
of course inquired into his moral and mental char- 
acter. ** Who is your pastor?" "I have none." 
" Of ^Yhat church are you a member?" " Of none. ' ' 
' ' Where do you go to church ? " " Nowhere. " " Are 
you a professor of religion?" "No." "Do you 
read the Scriptures, or pray?" " No." " Have you 
any sense of personal guilt, and do you feel the need 
of a Redeemer?" " No." " What is your motive 
in seeking the ministry ?" " Oh, I think it is a re- 
spectable sort of life." " And you expect to make 
money by it ?" " Yes, enough to live on. " 

This is the substance of a long talk, and I never 
encountered a similar case. The man was not in- 
sane nor drunk, and the nature of my advice and 
admonitions may be imagined. 

LUTHERAN MINISTERS' MUTUAL INSURANCE LEAGUE. 

At the meeting of the Synod of Maryland, Octo- 
ber 28, 1870, I introduced the subject indicated 
above, but not wishing to take up too much time in 
the explanation of it, I promised to set it forth in the 
Church papers, and then proceeded immediately to 
the establishment of the League, with the help of 
such brethren as would favor the measure. 

The main feature of the concern is simply this: 
That every minister shall agree to pay to the treas- 
urer the sum of $2, as soon as he shall be officially 
informed of the death of a member, to be transmit- 



246 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ted to his widow or children or other legal repre- 
sentatives. Every minister in good health may be- 
come a member, and provision will also be made for 
the membership of laymen who may desire m this 
way to help the families of deceased ministers, but 
no layman, however, can derive any pecuniary ben- 
efit from the institution. He may give, but he can- 
not receive. 

In order to have an amount of money on hand to 
pay for stationery, printing certificates, appeals, re- 
ports, and post-office eKpenses, there will be an in- 
itiation fee required not exceeding one dollar. 

There will be no office rent, no salaried officer, 
no commissions, and no large sum of money in 
hand to be invested, so that the sum of $2 from 
each member will be secured entire to the family 
to which it shall be due. Thus, supposing that 
we had 500 members, the widow of the first de- 
ceased member would, forty days after his death, 
receive $1,000, and so in proportion to the number 
of members. 

The League will be empowered to receive be- 
quests and legacies, which may become a perpetual 
fund, from which appropriations may be made to 
relieve special cases of want and distress m clergy- 
men's families, or the income of which may go to 
swell the amount of mortuary dues as often as death 
might occur. 

A similar institution has been for some time in suc- 
cessful operation in the Episcopal and perhaps other 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 247 

churches, and this inspires us with the utmost confi- 
dence in commending it to the favorable considera- 
tion and acceptance of our whole Churchy and specially 
because, while it provides a life insurance for all its 
members, the premium which secures the ultimate 
benefit is not paid to a board of managers, who for 
a pecuniary consideration invest it for the benefit of 
the insured, but it is at once transmitted by the 
treasurer to the widow and orphans of the deceased 
member without discount, expense or defalcation. 
Not only is it impossible that funds should be mis- 
appropriated or lost, but at the decease of any mem- 
ber all the surviving members are summoned to the 
relief of those who are dependent upon him, and 
thus the charity which each exercises towards all 
becomes a pledge that all will do the like for him, 
and so a sacred brotherhood is perpetuated, which 
is evoked into practical activity the very instant that 
death removes a brother, thus in effect realizing that 
mysterious promise : ' ' Give and it shall be given 
unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken 
together and running over, shall men give into your 
bosom. ' ' 

Each brother by this plan, simply exercising the 
benevolence which we all owe, converts the League, 
so far as its provisions extend, into a guardian for 
those whom he shall leave behind when death re- 
moves him from his labor. 

Inasmuch as the interest is mutual, it will ob- 
viously be the policy, and in some sense the duty, of 



248 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

each member to increase, so far as is in his power, 
the number of members. 

At a subsequent meeting held in Baltimore a fe^v 
weeks afterwards the League was organized by the 
adoption of a constitution and the election of officers, 
and it went into immediate operation. There was 
fierce opposition to it through the Observer^ for every 
good scheme proposed among us encounters ene- 
mies ; but it prevailed notwithstanding, and it worked 
wonderfully well for 15 years. It was found neces- 
sary now and then to change some of its features, 
to which there was no objection. Over $63,000 have 
been paid to poor widows, but at this time (1885) the 
membership has decreased, owing to the painful fact 
that during one period of six months nine members 
died, and the payment of dues so quick in succession 
was hard for poor men. A number of them with- 
drew their names. I have not much hope for the 
continuance of the League, which has been of such 
invaluable service to the families of many of our 
poor men. 

There was much frivolous and some dishonorable 
writing about it in the Observer^ and all along some 
men have been severely and spitefully averse to it 
who have nothing better to propose. They are not 
the men who usually have anything good to bring 
forward, but who stand off and take an unamiable 
delight in finding fault with other men who have 
left them behind in so many other things. 

It gives me pleasure to state here that to the 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 249 

Rev. F. Ph. Hennighausen is mainly due the credit 
of sustaining" the League through its vicissitudes 
and perils.* 

PREACHING IN OTHER PULPITS. 

Whilst I never received but two or three calls 
from other congregations since I have been ordained, 
and have never served any other church but one for 
;^^ years,! which very few of my brethren have done, 
yet I have been frequently invited to occupy other 
pulpits for a sermon or two or more. I presume 
the reason why I have never been often called as 
pastor anywhere else is, first, because I never v/as 
in the market, and by that I simply mean that I had 
no inclination to go, and employed no means to se- 
cure such attentions, and secondly because I pre- 
sume I was not desirable, in other words, no church 
wanted me. That was sensible on their part, and 
I humbly acquiesced. 

I have been called to other responsible positions 
at Gettysburg, but I w^ould not go. 

The fact of my not being elected to other pulpits 
was once pleaded, in his own justification and very 
much to his delight, by a minister of another com- 
munion. He was a good and sensible man, but a 

* The Society has at present (1895) less than 100 members, 
and there are no additions. 

I I served the Third church as temporary supply for several 
years, and I am now preaching at Lutherville because the 
congregation there is too weak to support a paston 



250 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

dull preacher, a wretchedly poor speaker, and wearily 
inanimate. He never had a call for these reasons, 
and it was gratifying to him to he able to refer to 
my case as analogous to his own. He derived com- 
fort from that fact, and although very anxious to 
make a move, for he had preached his church empty, 
yet he consoled himself by saying, * ' Well, there are 
other ministers in the same condition; there's 

M , for example, and if he never was asked to 

leave his present place, I don't see why I should 
grieve about being overlooked ! ' ' 

In my earlier years I preached in nearly all our 
own pulpits for a Jnindrcd miles around^ and in some 
directions further still. I have attended frequent 
corner-stone la34ngs and church consecrations and 
sacramental meetings, and in the olden times many 
protracted and revival meetings. I presume many 
of our energetic ministers can say the same of 
themselves. 

I have never practiced what is called exchanging 
with other ministers. It was not common years 
ago, but I dare say it is a good custom when not too 
frequently indulged in. People like to hear a 
strange voice, and they sometimes gain by it. I 
have sometimes been asked by a few of my own 
people, who did not like to stray away from their 
own church, to invite to my pulpit some man of 
distinction who came to town, or to ask an exchange 
with some settled minister; but I never complied, 
knowing that their motive was shallow curiosity. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 25 1 

and not a desire to hear the gospel. I replied, " If 
you want to hear the man, go, but I shall not make 
my pulpit an exhibition stage merely to gratify 
your whim ! ' ' 

I have invited many men of reputation to preach 
for me, and some have come ; but they were usually 
engaged in other more influential and fashionable 
churches, and we obscure Lutherans were compelled 
to put up with the plain gospel fare served up every 
Sunday by ourselves. 

I have preached in many non-Lutheran pulpits in 
Baltimore, but that sort of courtesy, if it may be 
called such, is not practiced as it was many years 
ago, before the churches became so numerous, and 
when ministers were not as exclusive as many are 
now. Besides this, many men properly think they 
can do their own work as well as and a little better 
than others. 

I have never been much annoyed by strangers 
asking me for the use of my pulpit merely to preach, 
and not for the presentation of a specific object. I 
refused every one, for I did not know whether they 
could set forth the gospel more forcibly than I did, 
and besides I was not willing to pander to the vanity 
and egotism of some of these men. 

In the olden time it was almost a universal custom 
to invite into our pulpits members of Presbyterian 
Synods, Methodist Conferences and the like, which 
met in Baltimore. Very few city ministers do it 
now. I haye several times been disappointed at the 



252 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

non-appearance of men appointed to my pulpit, and 
often, too, when they did come they were not of 
much account. One man once excited anything 
but a solemnizing emotion by speaking of Mr. 
Luther.'! Simple as it appears to be yet it was a 
phrase that nobody had ever heard before, and it 
sounded supremely ridiculous. 

I once preached five or six consecutive Sundays 
for a pastor who had gone on an excursion to the 
West. He never made any acknowledgment of my 
service, not even saying ' ' Thank you, sir. ' ' After 
some time had elapsed I asked him "whether he 
ever heard that I had complied with his request to 
preach for him during his long absence?" He re- 
plied that he had heard of it, and said no more, not 
even offering to pay my car-fare to town. All this 
came from defective early training. It was not lack 
of respect for me,' or an inappreciation of my serv- 
ices, but pure absence of culture ; for this same man, 
a few years afterwards, came to consult me on a 
very important affair affecting his clerical standing. 
It was simply whether I would advise him to accept 
an honor offered him by a corporation for which he 
had not a high respect. 

I have paid a few men more than their expenses 
for preaching for me m my absence, but I never 
was offered anything more than expenses myself 
except once or twice. Some men are very particu- 
lar in paying just precisely your expenses and not a 
cent more. Thus I know a prominent church which 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 253 

gave a helping brother exactly ^1.72, which he had 
paid for car fare, withholding the few cents to make 
it the even $2. 

For many years it was not an easy matter to get 
a substitute in Baltimore if you intended to be 
absent a week or so. There were at that time not 
so many clerical editors, secretaries, dilapidated or 
churchless ministers as at present, and hence in the 
olden times we were compelled to ask men of doubt- 
ful ability to preach, and who could make a better 
boot or coat or horse-shoe than a sermon. 

I once kncAV a very good and popular pastor of a 
city church — not Baltimore — who on nearly all oc- 
casions of his absence, and always at Communion, 
invited men of that class to help him, A medical 
professor was a member of the church. The min- 
ister had most injudiciously invited an ignorant 
quack doctor, whom somebody had licensed to 
preach, to help him. Our professor, who knew this 
ignorant pretender, refused to receive Sacrament 
from him, left the church with his family, and joined 
another of our congregations in that city. 

I was once invited by a lay preacher to help him 
in some meetings he was holding in a small chapel 
in the country. I went, and expounded the parable 
of the Publican and Pharisee. He " followed with 
some remarks, ' ' and used the word ' ' Republican ' ' 
all through, much to my disgust and the amusement 
of the young people. 



254 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

GOOD ADVICE FROAI MEMBERS. 

For many years it was my good fortune to have 
among my hearers several intelligent gentlemen 
who occasionally did me the good service of pointing 
out what they considered some faults in the style of 
my preaching or the matter of my sermons. In my 
early life my cousin, J. C. K., who attended my 
church every Sunday night, would now and then 
make judicious criticisin, for he was extremely in- 
terested in my success. His remarks were always 
made in the kindest spirit, and I profited by them. 

In later years another good friend was my mentor, 
who was well instructed in the Scriptures, but he 
was rather exacting; but I knew that his intentions 
were perfectly pure, and he aimed only at m}^ good. 
I often took his advice, and improved under it. On 
one occasion I remember that my good friend Heyer 
was present when my critic and I were discussing a 
theological point about which we differed. I had pre- 
sented my views in a sermon, to which he objected. 
He was a good talker, and rather able as a disput- 
ant. When he left me Mr. Heyer remarked that it 
was a great advantage to a minister to have such 
intelligent men in his church, who would rightly 
appreciate their pastor's good qualities, and yet who 
had the honesty to tell him his faults in a kind and 
fraternal spirit. 

There are people enough in every church who are 
continually finding fault with the preacher, and who 
freely speak of these faults to others, but who hai^c 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 255 

not the manliness to tell the minister himself. Some 
are afraid of hurting his feelings, and others delight 
in this style of church gossip; but the man who 
; really respects his minister, and is jealous of his 
■good name and popularity, would be doing him 
: good if he occasionally pointed out an acknowledged 
blemish in his manner and matter of preaching. 
Captious criticism and brotherly counsel are differ- 
ent things, and blessed is that minister who has a 
kind, intelligent, pious friend, who will give him 
good advice when there seems to be occasion for it. 

I have had one or two clerical brothers, who were 
engaged in other pursuits, as my hearers for months 
together, but who were not pleased with my preach- 
ing, and gave good evidence of it by their inatten- 
tion. One of them ceased coming to our church, 
and went, I believe, to the Methodists, though he 
got his bread from our people. A good old lady 
once remarked to me, '* The only two persons 
asleep in church this morning were two ministers. ' ' 

Once in a lecture on a portion of Scripture I said 
that the passage was difficult, and that I was not 
sure whether I had caught the precise meaning. I 
presume my language was equivalent to an expres- 
sion that I did not understand it entirely. One of 
my elders kindly said to me that I had better not 
have made it thus publicly known, for the people 
expect of their minister that he should understand 
the Scriptures thoroughly, and that they would lose 
confidence in him as a Bible interpreter if he ac- 



256 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

knowledged his own ignorance of any portion of it. 
My old friend was right. 

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 

Somewhere else in this book I have stated, or 
should have done so, that in 1846 Drs. Schmncker, 
Knrtz and I went to London to be present at the 
meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, which was to 
convene in August, the history of which I need not 
here repeat. We were, not commissioned as repre- 
sentatives of our Church, for the Alliance emphat- 
ically declared that no men would be recognized as 
representatives of any church or body; besides this 
we were expected to pay our own expenses, which 
we did. 

Various interesting events grew out of this Alli- 
ance and its American branch. The following is 
not unimportant, and may as well be introduced 
here. I furnished it to the Observer twelve or 
fifteen years ago: 

THAT ALLIANCE EXPEDITION TO RUSSIA. 

The American Evangehcal Alliance appointed a commission 
to proceed to St. Petersburg, with the benevolent design of in- 
terceding with the emperor in behalf of the poor, persecuted 
Lutherans in one section of his dominions. These people are 
badly treated by the priesthood of the Greek church because 
they will not abandon their Lutheran faith. Their rights of 
conscience are interfered with, and their condition is rendered 
deplorable. Measures altogether at war with the liberal and 
enlightened spirit of the age have been cruelly pursued, and 
these persecuted brethren of our faith have in vain implored for 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 257 

protection agaiust the outrageous proceedings of a bigoted 
priesthood. 

The American Alliance has generously come to their rescue, 
and a commission of eminent divines and laymen from this 
country has already entered upon their embassy of love and 
pacification. Their truly Christian purpose is to endeavor to 
influence the emperor in behalf of persecuted Lutherans, for 
which we should give them all due credit, and pray that their 
mission may be successful. 

The commission is composed of distinguished gentlemen of 
four or five Christian denominations, but there is not a single 
LtUheran among them. "Perhaps none of our men would go? " 
It might be so; but none were asked! "Perhaps they did not 
think any of us were fit to go! " Probably; but how did they 
know that ? I know fifty of our men who speak more languages 
than any of the commission, excepting one, and who have all 
the fitness which any of them possess. "Perhaps they did not 
want a Lutheran to intercede in behalf of his lyUtherau 
brethren? " Perhaps so, but it was unwise policy. 

One of our ministers, whose tender susceptibilities were 
stirred up, who, in plain English, felt hurt at this manifest 
slight of his brethren in the ministry, wrote to the most eminent 
member of the commission, whom he intimately knew, and in- 
quired why no Lutheran w^as honored with a place among those 
worthies. Was it intentional ? was it an oversight? or what was 
it? The inquirer has kindly sent me the original reply, and 
here is the whole of it : 

Dear Sir: Your letter of May i8th, asking the reason why 
no Lutheran has been appointed a member of the .'^.lliance 
deputation to Russia, has been received. It is neither inten- 
tional nor an oversight. We had to select such gentlemen who, 
besides their high standing and qualifications to represent the 
Evangelical Alliance in so important a mission, were able and 
willing to proceed to Russia at their own expense, the Alliance 
having no means to reimburse them. This fact, of course, cuts 
off many who would be as well qualified, and would have been 
as cheerfully elected. Do you know of a Lutheran friend of the 

17 



258 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Alliance who would fairly represent your church, and be willing 
to make the sacrifice of time and money for a good and noble 
cause? I shall be happy to bring him to the notice of the depu- 
tation. I expect to sail June 3d and return in September. 

This w-as as much as could be expected at so late a day, and 
I am sure the noble-minded writer of the letter would have been 
glad to have one of our like-minded men in his compan}-. He 
is a most genial Ccnnan gentleman, who fondly admires every 
thorough -blooded Lutheran. 

Well, after all, what is the most probable reason why none 
of us were invited? Shall I tell it? It is only my op.nion, but 
I think I am right. The reason is obscurely shadowed forth in 
this phrase of the above letter: ''If you know of a Luiheran 
friend of the Alliance,'''' etc. That's the reason. As a church, 
w^e have not joined in the glory-hallelujah of the Alliance! 
That's the reason; and I am candid to say, that we have no 
right to complain. And yet, strange to say, the very man 
among us who, of all others, has taken the least interest in the 
Alliance, was gazetted for a speech at the meeting that was to 
have been held in New York last fall. 

The fact is, we had better say no more about it. If we are 
ambitious of distinction among such influential associations, 
we must cultivate a more friendly spirit with them, and let 
them send deputations to Russia in behalf of Lutheran Chris- 
tians without a Lutheran delegate among them. I wonder 
what answer they would give to the emperor, or to some 
eminent Lutheran divine in Russia, who should chance to ask 
them why there is no Lutheran on their committee ? Well, let 
it pass. 

The Alliance appointed for Stockholm in 1884 did 
not meet. In April of that 3"ear it was announced 
that the Archbishop of Upsala and other dignitaries 
and clergy of the church in Sweden had publicly 
protested against the meeting, and hence it was 



AN OLD LUTHERAN TIINISTER. 259 

abandoned. It is presumed the reasons were that 
the English non-Episcopalians of various sects had 
already created some difficulties in Sweden by pros- 
elyting members of the State Church. The Com- 
mittee in this country, of which Dr. Schaif is (was) 
the energetic head, even if not chairman, which 
I however presume he is (was), invited nearly 
fifty American ministers to attend that Alliance at 
their own expense, of whom only one, as far as I 
know, Avas of our Church — Dr. Wolf, of Gettysburg. 
He was willing to go, but evidently we could not 
consider him a representative of our Church, He 
was not appointed by any Synod, Faculty or Board, 
and although he would be a fit representative, if 
such a character were acknowledged, yet we as a 
people could not regard him in that light, and hence 
could not make church provision for his expenses. 
Besides this, some of us knew that the Lutherans in 
Sweden would not favorably regard this uninvited 
Alliance (uninvited by the Church authorities), and 
hence our highly esteemed Dr. Wolf would not be 
treated very hospitably by his own Lutheran breth- 
ren. They w^ould look upon him as a colleague of 
those English and American churches who are 
spending large amounts of money in proselyting 
Swedish Lutherans to the faith of their sects, and 
hence would most probably treat him coldly. The 
Alliance was not held in Stockholm. 

In December, 1887, a meeting of the American 
branch of the Alliance was held in AVashington, 



26o LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Wm. E. Dodge, Jr., of New York, President. It 
is said that over i,ooo ministers attended, and 
among them 40 of our own men, all General Synod 
ministers except one. No conspicuous position was 
given to any of us in the way of reading a paper or 
any other, except that one was invited to read the 
Scriptures and another to pray at the opening of a 
session. There was the usual howl from several 
quarters in the Observer^ and grievous lamentation 
about being " ignored." Dr. Strong, the Secretary, 
came out in vindication of the Alliance, and disa- 
vowed any intentional slight of our Church. The 
fact is simply this, that we are to blame ourselves 
for being overlooked in such public demonstrations, 
because we, as a church, do not participate vigor- 
ously in these general union efforts ; and yet I at- 
tribute it more to backwardness, or call it modesty 
if you choose, than to unwillingness or lack of in- 
terest in the great evangelical movements of the 
day. 

FLIEDNER, OF KAISERSWERTH. 

In 1849 Mr. Fliedner, of the Kaiserswerth School 
of Deaconesses, came to this country, and upon 
arriving at Baltimore, and learning that I was in 
York, Pa., went up to see me. Whilst we were 
there together, the guests of my brother Charles, 
President General Taylor passed through town. 
The train stopped a short time to give the people 
an opportunity of seeing him, and I was amused to 
see the sedate Fliedner taking off his hat and wav- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 261 

ing it lustily while joining the multitude in vocifer- 
ous hurrahs. On expressing my surprise at such a 
demonstration from him, a foreigner and monarchist 
as he was, he replied he was carried away with the 
scene, and thought it was nothing more than right 
to do homage to the chief magistrate of the country. 
After our return to Baltirnore he visited some of 
our penal and charitable institutions, and one day 
he came home deeply distressed, and unsparing in 
his rebuke of " American " Christianity. He said 
he had just come from a visit to the city prison, 
where, among other subjects claiming Christian 
sympathy, was a young girl, entirely forsaken, and 
no kind heart to extend help or consolation or pro- 
tection in any way. He asked, " Have you no 
Christian ladies here who visit these poor outcasts, 
to instruct them, and do other Christian offices to 
them ? ' ' and when I replied that it would not be 
considered genteel for a respectable lady to go to a 
prison on any errand, or at least these ladies thought 
so, he asked, " What sort of Christianity have you 
here?" and well he might. I told him there are 
hundreds of ladies here in Baltimore who would 
liberally furnish as much money as was necessary 
to relieve such persons ; that they would be found 
in large numbers at every meeting called to relieve 
human suffering, and freely contribute funds and 
furnish food and raiment for the destitute ; that they 
were constant attendants at public Avorship and other 
church assemblies and ordinances, but that it was 



202 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

not the practice of Christian ladies here, with per- 
haps the exception of a few old Quaker ladies, in 
person to visit women in jail. He could not under- 
stand it, nor can I. 

After the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in 
New York in 187 ? a number of the German dele- 
gates came to Baltimore. Some of the German 
ministers here made an arrangement for a religious 
meeting in St. Matthew's church, at that time Pastor 
Meyer's, after which we had a plain German supper 
at a neighboring house, at which we spent a very 
pleasant and profitable evening. The strangers 
present whom I now remember were Christlieb, 
Kothe, Spies, Krummacher, a lay brother of Heng- 
stenberg, and a few others. I had a long conversa- 
tion with Prof. Christlieb upon American church 
affairs. 

Not a few foreign clerical visitors of other times 
were not precisely of the same caste of those men- 
tioned above. Some of them were not at all adapted 
to the condition of things in this country. I heard 
one of them preach one Sunday, and before next 
Sunday he committed suicide. Several of them 
enlisted in the army. One came to my house whom 
I was compelled to turn out. One was, physically, 
the lamest man you could meet, totally incapacitated 
for pastoral out-door work; but there were many 
good exceptions to these men, who have become 
very serviceable in the church. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 263 

CONSUBSTANTIATION. 

We have for many years been surprised, and some- 
what vexed also, because very respectable and intelli- 
gent writers continue to charge us, as a church, with 
holding the doctrine of consubstantiation. We have 
repudiated it over and over again, and have quoted 
the absolute denial from many of our old theolog- 
ians, but it all seems to be of no service. The im- 
putation is repeated again and again, notwithstand- 
ing our proofs to the contrary. Even such a learned 
and respectable writer as Dr. Schaff, who knows 
better, allows the false accusation to appear in some 

of his books. The learned Prof. repeats it, and 

the minor writers follow the lead of their superiors 
without any further investigation, blindly assuming 
that it is all right. 

In the preface to an English work on the Refor- 
mation, all the remaining copies of which were 
bought by our Publication Society, there is an im- 
plied, though not direct, charge of the same char- 
acter, and as the book was offered for sale by our 
store it would not seem proper to leave that uncon- 
tradicted. 

The Board of Publication requested me to prepare 
a series of extracts from our old dogmaticians, show- 
ing that our Church does not hold and never did 
hold that doctrine. I quoted from a number of 
them, in which I was assisted by Schmidt's Dog- 
inatik particularly, and made a full exhibit of the 
subject. This was printed in the American preface 



264 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

of the book above mentioned and also in the Ob- 
server, but I have no doubt the same misrepresen- 
tation will be repeated, whatever we may say. 

I cannot believe that these learned men would 
wilfully pervert the truth, and I account for their 
culpable errors by believing that they leave some 
of this work to be done by amanuenses who are not 
intelligent on these subjects. I know that Dr. Schaff, 
for instance, employed a number of copyists, who 
were called secretaries, to whom was committed the 
task of gathering material, and who were not always 
competent to do it properly. Even if this conjecture 
be true, it is no justification of the errors they per- 
petuate, for the principal should read the final proof, 
and should correct all blunders. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CHURCH MISCEIXANEA : STYI,E OF PREACHING IN OUR CHURCH 
—ARGUMENT FOR STUDY— STATE OF THEOLOGY — PROGRESS 
— D. D. IN OUR CHURCH — CATECHISATION, PASTORAI, VISITING 
— I.UTHER MEMORIAI. MEETINGS IN 1883 — CHANGE OF VIEWS 
ON I.UTHERAN THEOLOGY — ELECTION OF PROFESSORS— COL- 
LECTING FUNDS FOR THE SEMINARY— THE LUTHER STATU- 
ETTE. 

STYLE OF PREACHING. 

I NEVER had an opportunity of hearing many of 
our ministers preach, except at Synod and other 
general meetings, and then for the most part it was 
the same men, for on such occasions usually the most 
prominent men are the speakers. At such times 
ministers are presumed to do their best, and hence 
their synodical sermons are not a good test of their 
style and manner at home. Some men have v^hat 
are unhandsomely called * ' crack sermons, ' ' which 
they parade on all unusual occasions, and to this I 
see no objection; but they should aim at making all 
their discourses ' ' crack sermons. ' ' 

There was very little doctrinal preaching as far 
as my observation extended, but mostly of the prac- 
tical character that terminated in the hortatory. 
There were very few men who indulged in the 
(265) 



266 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

boisterous, and not many who practiced or affected 
the highly florid, or, as it has been designated, the 
" spread-eagle " style. We had one or two who 
were famous in this line. They elicited the admira- 
tion of some hearers who were as superficial as the 
preachers, and they never accomplished any perma- 
nent good for the Church. They did not remain 
long in any parish, for the people grew tired of that 
style of preaching, from which they derived no in- 
struction, and ceased going to church, and the flow- 
ery preacher was obliged to seek another field of 
labor. 

Many of our preachers, who had any respect for 
themselves or their people, either wrote their ser- 
mons or studied them carefully. Some of them read 
them in the pulpit, which, however, never became 
popular ainong our people, and I know some men 
who failed m securing desirable places because they 
did not preach without their notes. This is a matter 
of taste and education, and many intelligent people, 
even among us, would prefer hearing a well-read 
discourse to any other. 

I know one of our very best preachers, who at the 
beginning of his pastoral life, read his sermons, but 
becoming dissatisfied with himself he adopted the 
other extreme. It was hard work at first, but by per- 
severance he attained a fluency of speech and an ele- 
gance of diction, as well as a logical sequence of 
solid thought, so that he is now one of the most 
instructive preachers in our Church or any other. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 267 

Some men begin by writing and committing their 
sermons, but most of them tell me that after a few 
years they found it a laborious work, and besides it 
led them into a monotonous, sing-song delivery. 

Some of our preachers are content with the prepa- 
ration of an outline, or skeleton, as it is called, and 
trust to their readiness of speech to fill it up when 
they get into the pulpit. This is well enough for a 
man of experience, but dangerous for beginners. 
It begets sameness of idea as wxU as of words. It 
is hard for such men to get out of the well-trodden 
rut, and hence a discerning hearer can nearly alwa3^s 
anticipate what the preacher will say, and frequently, 
too, the very language he will use. 

I fortunately never, or very seldom, have heard 
any attempt made at profound preaching — I mean 
an affected metaphysics, or display of hard and ob- 
scure logic. There are a few among us who some- 
times divide their themes into parts, in abstract 
language, and often use the terms objective and 
subjective very glibly, just as if the majority of 
their hearers understood them very distinctly. 

I have also heard the use of some scientific terms, 
taken from geology or natural history, when it was 
very evident that the preacher was not very familiar 
with the subject himself. This bad practice has 
come into use especially since there has been such 
an outcry against evolution. But let us charitably 
presume that the preacher merely intended to warn 
his hearers against the dangers of modern infidelity. 



268 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

and thought It well to mention some offensive names 
or describe some objectionable doctrines. 

I observe that the old plan of dividing a text cr 
theme into two or three distinct heads, with a few 
subdivisions of each, is almost entirely given up. 
Most sermons now are a sort of essay, with the text 
as a motto. There is very little direct exposition of 
Scripture, and very little Scripture quoted in illus- 
tration of the positions assumed. I think this is the 
character of most of the modern preaching in most 
pulpits. I look upon it as a deterioration, a griev- 
ous calamity. I have too little acquaintance with 
the popular sermon or skeleton books, to detect the 
practice of preaching other men's sermons, but I 
have sometimes heard discourses which I thought 
were a little above the calibre of the preacher. 
There was a compactness, a graceful or eloquent 
diction, a clearness of conception, a logical con- 
sistency, and an intellectual breadth which he never 
displayed on any other occasion, so that I did not 
think it unkind to suspect that he was ploughing 
with another man's oxen. 

There have been detections of this trick, some of 
which will occur to almost every clerical reader. I 
know some who justify this practice on the ground 
that the preacher is bound to give the best to his 
hearers, and if he cannot furnish it from his own 
brain or heart, let him take good bread from another 
man's bakery with which to feed his own half -starved 
congregation. I more than once heard a very pop- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 269 

nlar and influential editor of one of our leading 
Church papers stoutly defending this position. 

Some years ago, during the lifetime of the Rev. 
Drs. Schmucker and Krauth, it was observed that 
not a few of their pupils quite unconsciously im.i- 
tated their tones of voice whilst preaching, but it 
has not been noticed that any student, since the 
death of those two men, imitate the tones of the 
present professors! Now, I dare say this was quite 
unintentional on the part of those students; they 
fell into the habit without designing it ; but such was 
really the fact. The voice tones of both those men 
were soft and musical — sometimes very touching. 
They had the effect of a tender melody upon sym- 
pathetic minds. You find yourself humming it 
without reflection, and so, I suppose, some men 
imitate the tones of others in speaking without 
being aware of it. Men with discordant, unpleasant 
voices are not thus imitated, but it would be well if 
those men who unconsciously fall into this habit 
would, with full purpose and intent, imitate the 
studious habits and entire consecration of heart of 
their instructors. 

I think I could safely say that if some of our 
Lutheran preachers whom I could name were mem- 
bers of other communions, their reputation would be 
much wider than it is as Lutheran preachers. 
Church influence, the plaudits of the crowd, the 
frequent compliments of their church papers, the 
pride of sect, the power of a costly house of wor- 



270 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ship, and a fashionable and wealthy congregation, 
would give them a position in public favor which 
we cannot do. 

I was trained to a high conception of the necessity 
of ptilpit preparation, but I did not always live up 
to it. Sometimes I was careless, and this arose 
from the fact that my people seemed to be satisfied 
with my ill-digested discourses. But that is a dan- 
gerous gauge. Their being satisfied is no evidence 
that they were edified, which should be the aim of 
the conscientious preacher. They were content, 
probably, because the superficialness of the sermons 
cost them no thought to understand, and they were 
pleased more by a pretty off-hand sketch rather than 
by an argumentative, well-elaborated discourse. 

I remember being at the house of a worthy min- 
ister when I was a very 3^oung man. He was called 
to preach a funeral sermon in the country, and just 
before he mounted his horse he came into the study 
and took out of a pigeon-hole of his table the skele- 
ton of a sermon from a pile of dingy, yellow old 
manuscripts, without ever looking at it to see whether 
it was appropriate or not. Now, he may have se- 
lected it before, but from his manner I should judge 
not. It was done in a hurry, without any regard for 
the fitness of things. It struck me as a queer pro- 
ceeding, and yet I do not know but that I may have 
done what is equivalent to it myself in later days. 
I do not think this preacher would have been so 
careless about his Sunday morning sermon to his 
own congregation ; neither would I. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 27 1 

ARGUMENT FOR STUDY. 

I have frequently urged upon our young men, in 
writing and conversation, the importance of pursuing 
theological and linguistic studies, and h,ave encour- 
aged them whenever I had an opportunity by speak- 
ing well, in the Observer and elsewhere, of their lit- 
erary work. We shall want thoroughbred scholars 
in our colleges and seminaries, and the clergy are 
evidently looked to for the supply, although some 
of our professors are laymen. 

My views are briefly expressed in a notice of the 
April number of Vsi^ Review^ 1880: 

" That professor who is satisfied with his present attainments, 
and who is not constantly advancing iu the hterature of his de- 
partment, is not fit for his place, and it is said there are some 
such men. They know no more now than they did when they 
assumed their duties, and are content. A professor should be a 
growing man, and if he once gets indolent he loses his influ- 
ence, and would be much chagrined to hear what his fellow 
professors, the students and the trustees, say concerning him. 
He had better begin to. study, or vacate his place for some more 
ambitious and industrious man who would keep far ahead of his 
classes and up to the times in his science. He should read all 
the new books and journals relating to his subject, and thus 
show that he is conscientious in his office and anxious to reflect 
credit upon himself and his college." 

We have, on several occasions, had hard work to 
fill several important vacancies. I have known at 
least seven ballotings at one time, and those not be- 
tween two candidates, but whether one should be 
chosen who was not quite up to the gauge. He was 



272 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

finally elected at midnight, after a long struggle, by 
one or two majority. 

It would be well if we always had three or more 
competent men in reserve to chose from, in the 
event of vacancies, which are likely to occur at any 
time. I am sure that different arrangements would 
have been recently made in one of otir institutions 
if we had had proper men to fill the place vacated 
without sacrificing other important interests. 

I know well enough that some of our young men 
who are inclined to study plead want of time, oc- 
casioned by numerous pastoral engagements, but I 
am satisfied that in most cases this is a baseless ex- 
cuse. If they only systematized their studies and 
time, and would devote more of it to their books, 
and not waste so much in gossip and useless visits 
and in newspaper reading, it would be better for 
them. The most laborious pastor of a large parish 
might have at least two whole days of the week at 
home if he were a systematic man, and these devoted 
to the study of one subject would make him a good 
scholar in a few years. As for his sermons, let him 
study them inter equitandiim (on horseback or be- 
tween times), and write them down on his tablet, 
which every man should have with him always. 

Another reason why we have so few really first- 
class scholars is, because most of them aim at being 
encyclopedial, and not special. They range over 
the whole field of theology, and hence, whilst they 
may become capital preachers and respectable di- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 273 

vinec, yet they are not fitted as they should he to 
teach thoroughly one or two specific branches. 

Let some whose minds or tastes lie in the direc- 
tion of Dogmatik pursue that department particu- 
larly, and so of the Hebrew and Greek languag-es and 
exegesis, or church history, or homiletics, or any 
other special study. By such a course many of our 
diligent young men w^ould become proficient, and 
would always have the best chance of being elected 
to desirable positions if they had any ambition in 
that line. 

I have heard it said of one of our ministers, who 
lived many years ago in North Carolina, and who 
had not the advantages of a thorough early training, 
was a laborious student all his life, but he died be- 
fore he had reached his 40th year. He always car- 
ried some books with him, and though he might 
have been on horseback the greater part of the day, 
yet wherever he stopped when away from home he 
spent half the night in study. He made consider- 
able acquirements considering his slender opportun- 
ities, but unfortunately they were not devoted to the 
best interests of the Church. 

Many ministers when they retire from active pas- 
toral service, or those who are growing old, usually 
neglect study, or even diligent reading. They seem 
to be willing to rest after having done hard service, 
or their reading is confined to newspapers and, it 
may be, to devotional books, which is well enough. 
I find no fault with these men. They never were 
18 



2 74 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

diligent students, and it is too late for them to ac- 
quire a different habit. But I wish here to record 
my own experience, which differs so much from 
that of many good men, and it is that I never was 
more desirous of acquiring knowledge, never more 
industrious in reading, especially in writing, never 
more diligent in consulting books, and never spent 
more time at my literary work than I do now, and 
have been doing for some years. I am more jealous 
of my time, so to speak, than ever before. I seem 
to think time lost that is not devoted to research and 
writing. I have sometimes thought that it is mor- 
bid, and not health}^ Not infrequently I get up at 
one or two at night, go into my study, and work one 
or two hours. It is a bad habit at any time of life, 
but at my time, now over 70, it is not at all to be 
commended or imitated. But a fit of insomnia seizes 
me, and I reason that the time would be more profit- 
ably employed over my books than in dreamy semi- 
consciousness in bed. I do not feel any ill effects 
from it next day for having had only five or six 
hours' sleep, but can get to work next morning after 
breakfast and work for hours without cessation. I 
never could study before breakfast. Some men say 
that it is the best time. My experience is different, 
and if I am much interrupted during the day, late 
at night is the best time for me. 

For over thirty years also I have been in the habit 
of reading every night before I go to bed, and dur- 
ing all that time I have never fallen asleep without 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 275 

extinguishing the light. It matters not how early 
or how late I retire, I must read afterwards. The 
length of time depends much upon the book I have 
on hand. I never venture upon anything which 
requires thought; usually the monthly magazines, 
but more generally a French or German novel, is 
just the proper thing. 

I once mentioned this habit to an unorthodox 
clerical acquaintance, who jocosely observed that 
he had the same habit, but " always read one of his 
own sermons to put himself to sleep. " " Yes, ' ' I 
replied, " and you are not the only man whom your 
sermons have put to sleep. ' ' He laughed heartily, 
for perhaps he was conscious, in part, of being the 
dullest, prosiest preacher possible. 

STATE OF THEOLOGY. 

On page 392 of " Fifty Years " I have given a 
brief sketch of "The State of Theology" in the 
Church for many years, but I did not mention the 
persevering efforts made by influential men in op- 
posing genuine Lutheranism. They clung ardently 
to the name, and gloried in their ecclesiastical an- 
cestry; but they held that under that name they 
could be Calvinists, Zwinglians, or Arminians. 
Lutheranism with them covered a multitude of 
errors, hence they struggled violently in mainte- 
nance of the lowest church views, the loosest the- 
ology, provided a man was what they called pious, 
the most unchurchly revival methods, and even 



276 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

extravagance in some of their meetings. There 
was what might be called a school of men, which 
sanctioned the extremes of Methodism in conduct- 
ing religious services, but only at night. The day 
services were orderly enough. When a growing- 
attachment to the Symbolical Books and a more 
sober, churchly feeling were manifested, these men 
raised a terrific cry against *' the substitution of 
the Creed for the Bible," and even quoted the 
children's song against popery, " We won't give 
up the Bible," just as if the orthodox party aimed 
at depreciating God's word. 

Of course this school inveighed severely against 
the use of a liturgical, and above all a responsive 
service, and although very few of us ever thought 
of introducing the gown, yet that also came in for 
fierce animadversion. One of the most influential 
of them one day triumphantly told me that he had 
good old Lutheran authority against the use of the 
gown, for the writer, an old German theologian of 
high authority, positively asserted that the clergy 
should wear no distinctive dress from the laity. 
Our American friend thought this settled the ques- 
tion, but when he was told that this old writer was 
talking of every-day costume — civil dress in the 
street — and not of clerical vestments in the pulpit 
or at the altar, he was compelled to abandon his 
ground, much to his chagrin, although I suspected 
that his acknowledged penetration led him to see 
the true state of the case before. It was enough, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 277 

however, for his blind adherents, who followed him 
implicitly, and never examined for themselves. 

This same school, or the leaders of it, also per- 
suaded their followers that the mass, which in the 
symbols is sometimes used synonymous with the 
Lord's Supper, was the Romish doctrine of the 
mass, and that therefore the symbolical books 
teaching such a doctrine should be rejected. I 
sometimes thought these men knew better, but it 
answered a purpose, and that was enough. 

The " odium theologicum " was cherished to a 
ridiculous extent. For instance, because I fre- 
quently attended the meetings of the Pennsylvania 
Synod to see old friends, and did not rail with 
others against the Missourians and ' ' old Luther- 
ans ' ' in general, I was denounced as an opponent 
of the General Synod, and regarded as an " old 
Lutheran. ' ' But this spirit did not prevail for many 
3'ears, for our men gradually became more enlight- 
ened, and of course more liberal ; but the real secret 
of this change of spirit was a change of theological 
opinion, for genuine Lutheranism is progressing 
every year. Indeed, I am agreeably surprised in 
observing that most of our clergy are closely ap- 
proximating the true doctrines of the Church, al- 
though the minds o£ many are not very clear on the 
subject, yet they strongly disclaim everything un- 
Lutheran. This change has been going on for a 
number of years through the introduction and study 
of distinctive Lutheran theology. 



278 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

You will now find few respectable ministers of our 
ChTirch who cherish the sentiment or spirit which 
prevailed extensively thirty years ago among some 
influential men of the General Synod. It was an 
un- Lutheran, unchurchly, semi-rationalistic spirit, 
which happily began to die with the death of its 
authors and abettors. 

During the year 1880, or perhaps a little before, 
the LiitJicraner^ the organ of the " Missourians, " 
came out boldly and strongly in defense of a phase 
of Calvinism quite startling to the Church. The 
doctrine was advocated in a long series of able 
articles, which excited much interest among the 
Germans especially. Most of the " Missourians " 
adopted the views set forth by their influential 
leader, Prof. Walther, but a few opposed him, and 
this led to the establishment of a new paper, edited 
by Prof. Schmidt, who was a strong defender of the 
old Lutheran faith. 

Great excitement arose in these different camps 
of German theologians, leading to a general meeting 
in Chicago to discuss the question, the proceedings 
of w^hich I believe have never been published. The 
result was the adoption of every proposition made 
by Prof. Walther and the total discomfiture of the 
opposing party, as far as voting was concerned. 
This led to a separation between that Synod of Ohio 
which had warmly fraternized with ' ' Missouri, ' ' and 
the farther estrangement of a few others which had 
previously been on good terms with that Synod, if 
not in actual connection with it. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 279 

The English papers of our Church have not shown 
much interest in this controversy, as well as in many 
other affairs relating- to the German churches. 
There was an immense amount of theological learn- 
ing, acute logic, but, unfortunately, too much con- 
troversial bitterness, displayed in this discussion. 

In the autumn of i8So several articles decideoly 
in favor of the introduction of Episcopacy into our 
Church appeared in the Lutheran^ which were writ- 
ten by the Rev. J. Kohler, an influential member of 
the Synod of Pennsylvania. He had some coadju- 
tors who went so far as to call a meeting of all min- 
isters w^ho favored that measure, but the result of it 
was not propitious. The editor of that paper made 
no allusion to the articles, nor did the Observe?^ The 
whole matter has fallen into oblivion. 

In the early history of the General Council certain 
lilies and measures were adopted which have not 
stood the test of time. One was ' ' Lutheran pulpits 
for Lutheran ministers, and Lutheran altars for Lu- 
theran members. ' ' Whilst in general it must be 
admitted to be a true principle, yet some of the 
more rigid interpreted it as denying General Council 
pulpits and communion to all outside of that body, 
but they soon discovered that it could not be carried 
out. Others interpret it more liberally, for they 
never heartily accepted it, and when that wonder- 
fully gifted man. Dr. Krauth, Jr., died, and his 
potent influence was no longer felt, the stringency 
of the rule beo^an to relax. From several other 



260 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

utterances of the Council in its early fervor there 
are broad departures, and ten years hence they will 
be entirely disregarded. Extreme high-churchism, 
by which I mean exclusivism, will never take deep 
root among us, and many good men of the Council 
have become restive under the enactments of its 
first days. The fever has abated, and more healthy 
symptoms have been developed 

And yet as late as 1883 some members of the 
Synod of Pennsylvania, who preached in other 
than Lutheran pulpits, during the meeting of that 
body in Norristown, were very severely called to 
account for this breach of what they called Lutheran 
orthodoxy by some of their German brethren. The 
Synod, as such, did not sympathize with these ex- 
clusives, and the matter was fortunately dropped. 
It shows, however, that this exclusive spirit still ex- 
ists to some extent in that Synod, but I apprehend 
it is confined to a few foreigners, who happily have 
very little influence. 

This brings to my mind a little incident within my 
own experience. I once attended a meeting of the 
General Council in Philadelphia — it must have been 
about 1875 or 1876 — when I preached for a promi- 
nent member of that body who had previously in- 
vited me by letter. I resisted for some time, assur- 
ing my friend that it would occasion him trouble, 
and also upon the ground that it would seem to be 
discourteous to members of the Council to invite an 
outsider to his pulpit when there would be so many 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 28r 

of those present who would naturally expect to be 
invited. He insisted upon it, and I yielded. I sus- 
pect it was a species of banter on his part, for he 
professed to be very independent, and would not be 
governed by the restrictive rule. The next day one 
of the leading members mentioned the fact before 
the Council, in terms of strong disapprobation, that 
a member of the General Synod had been invited by 
one of their own body to preach in his pulpit. This 
displeased me at first, and I wrote to the gentleman, 
inquiring whether his objection to my preaching was 
based upon personal grounds ? He replied in the 
most courteous manner, expressing the highest per- 
sonal regard for me, and stated that he thought it 
was an act of discourtesy to the Council for any 
minister of that body, during the time of its meet- 
ing, to invite a non-member to preach when there 
were so many present who had superior claims to 
that distinction on account of their membership, but 
on no other ground. I think he was right, and told 
him so. 

At the meeting of the Council in 1884, held at 
Monroe, an obscure town in Michigan, some of its 
members accepted invitations to preach in English 
Presbyterian and other churches in the place. 
Towards the end of the session the pastor of the 
place introduced a resolution of censure of those 
large-hearted brethren who considered it no sin to 
preach the gospel, even to Presbyterians! Now, 
here was a dilemma. The majority felt that it 



282 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

would be disgraceful to pass the resolution, and yet 
here was the rule staring them in the face, " Luth- 
eran pulpits for Lutheran preachers," which rule 
these liberal Council men had violated. How to 
get out of the dilemma was the question. It was 
adroitly done by the leaders w^ho control all the 
business, by moving that the resolution be laid upon 
the table, inasmuch as the " offenders " were not 
present to vindicate themselves, and it was not 
known in what manner these services were con- 
ducted, and above all, as the protest was not against 
the action of the General Council, but merely 
against individuals, therefore resolved that the 
paper be laid upon the table. 

It was a dexterous way of getting rid of the 
troublesome affair, but they will have the same diffi- 
culty wherever the Synod or Council meets until the 
principle be abandoned or it becomes obsolete. 

At a subsequent meeting of the Council it was 
resolved that hereafter no member during the meet- 
ing shall be permitted to preach in a non-Lutheran 
pulpit except by permission of the pastor loci. This 
amounts to a surrender of personal rights to the 
control of one man, who may not be favorable to 
the permission. 

When I entered the ministry in 1826, what is 
called distinctive Luther anism was not a subject of 
thought, much less of discussion„ A few of the 
older clergy were probably orthodox on the sacra- 
ments, but they gave themselves no trouble about 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 283 

bringing their views prominently forward, either in 
their sermons or in writing. I know that Dr. J. G. 
Schmiicker, of York, was a genuine Lutheran, for it 
Vv^as his explanation of the Lutheran doctrine of the 
real presence in the sacrament that first led me to 
reflection upon that subject, and which has more or 
less influenced my theological Richtung (tendency) 
ever since. Sometimes, owing to adverse associa- 
tions, my faith was shaken, for at first it was not 
very firm ; but when I got beyond the influence of 
living teachers, and began independent examina- 
tion, the old Scripture doctrine would come back 
with double force. 

I do not knov/ one of the ir.ediceval men of that 
generation, and by that I mean the men who were 
between the old men of the Church and us young 
men — such men as D. F. Schaeffer, B. Kurtz, F. 
Ruthrauff, A. Reck, C. P. Krauth, S. S. Schmucker, 
and a few others of the same period — I do not know 
one who laid any claim to more than the name of 
Lutheran except, perhaps, D. F. Schaeffer and C. P. 
Krauth, Sr. Some, years after, became more pro- 
nounced, but still it was a subject that gave nobody 
any trouble about propagating it. The same was 
true concerning men of that grade in the old mother 
Synod, except, perhaps, Mr. Demme, of Philadel- 
phia, and a few others. 

On the other hand, even after the Seminary was 
established at Gettysburg, systematic and sustained, 
but covert, attack upon the Symbolical Books was 



284 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

made. The result was that the books were not 
regarded with favor by many of the ministers and 
students, and very many did not accept the doctrine 
of the sacraments as taught in the Lutheran Church. 
This continued to be the state of affairs for many 
years. There were some that were true Lutherans 
despite these adverse circumstances. Strange to 
say, not a few underwent a sort of reacting process, 
and absolutely were converted to the true church 
doctrine by the very agency diligently employed to 
deter them from it. These men did not venture to 
be demonstrative, but so soon as they became free 
from the painful shackles by which they were fet- 
tered, they professed the true doctrine. 

A large number, however, were Zwinglians (not 
even Calvinists) on the sacraments. That is, they 
were not Lutherans, and were satisfied with oppos- 
ing the doctrines of the Church Vv^ithout bothering 
themselves about any school of theology. 

This unhappy state of things continued for some 
years. At length that secretly begotten abortion, 
the " Definite Platform," appeared, and this aroused 
a wholesome controversy, not so much on the doc- 
trines reprobated in it as upon the inexpediency of 
altering the Confessions and disturbing the harmony 
of the Church. The discussion led many men to 
reflection upon the subject in general, and the issue 
was precisely the contrary from what was intended 
by the projectors of that mischievous experiment. 
From that day there can be traced a gradual change, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 285 

and the more sure and permanent from the fact of 
its being slow. At present (January, 1884,) ortho- 
dox Lutheran ministers in the General Synod can be 
counted by the hundreds. As chief examiner of 
those students who have been licensed by the Synod 
of Maryland for more than 20 years, I have been 
gratified by the gradual improvement in this respect, 
very different from my experience of 35 or more 
years ago, when a student absolutely lost his temper 
at some questions on the sacraments I put to him, 
and intimated that those old doctrines had become 
"obsolete," "effete;" and I remember also how 
Charles P. Krauth, Jr., who afterwards became one 
of our mightiest men, sitting beside his fellow- 
student, rebuked him, in a subdued voice, for his 
impertinence and ill manners. He never amounted 
to much in the Church, and died early.* 

Most of the other Synods, in which the Aixierican 
element predominates, also rejoice in evidences of 
improvement in this direction. Even in those in 
the General Synod, in which heretofore there was a 
lamentable looseness on our distinctive points, you 
will find men who are returning to the faith of the 
Church, and rejoicing in it. 

My little treatise on The Lutheran Doctrine of the 
Real Presence in the Lord's Supper (1883) was 
kindly received by many, and I was surprised and 
greatly gratified to receive commendations of it from 
men of whom I did not expect it. 

* For a full history of it, see '* Fifty Years," p. 337, 



286 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

I cannot more forcibly illustrate this wholesome 
change than by quoting the language of the same 
man in 1870 and 1883. ''Ex uno discc inultos/' 
In speaking in a printed book of the leader of the 
low Lutheran school, he says: "We are among those 
who endorsed his views, and cannot but regret that 
his clear, Scriptural and liberal views did not pre- 
vail in the Lutheran church. We still hope and 
pray that his . . . views will, after some time be 
past, be endorsed by the Lutheran Church in Amer- 
ica. " And hear this same man in 1883 — in speaking 
of the same men and times, he says: " Our Church 
became the servile imitator of others. Her own 
glorious doctrines she either explained away or 
ignored altogether. Li conforming to the views of 
others she had to reject her doctrine of baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. The glorious Confessions were 
thrown aside. . . . The great Confession of our 
Church was scarcely looked at, and the other Sym- 
bolical Books were only read to be condemned. . . . 
A wild, un-Lutheran spirit prevailed ... but how 
great a change has taken place in our doctrinal 
position. ' ' 

Hundreds of our ministers would make the same 
acknowledgment if any occasion rendered it neces- 
sary. 

PROGRESS. 

One of the most gratifying evidences of our 
growth in this countr}^, and of advancing intelli- 
gence, is the large number of periodical publications 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 287 

(every one of which is of a decidedly religious char- 
acter), of colleges, theological seminaries, orphans' 
houses and hospitals. There are also 24 academies, 
most of which are under synodical control, and there 
are 12 or 13 seminaries for females, which are con- 
ducted by individuals for their personal advantage, 
but none of which, as far as I know, is under synod- 
ical management, and hence I would not designate 
them as Church institutions properly speaking, 
though highly worthy of mention in a chapter on 
Progress. 

When I entered the ministry there was not a single 
incorporated college, that is, which had the power 
of conferring degrees and was manned by a regular 
Faculty; there was only one theological seminary 
besides Hartwick, but this latter was of extremely 
limited influence and patronage ; there were but two 
periodicals, and they were monthlies, one of which 
was continued only one year, and the other main- 
tained at a heavy loss ; there were no orphan houses 
and no high academies controlled by the Church, 
and no schools of a high grade for the education of 
ladies. 

But what is the present condition of things ? We 
have now (1884) 90 periodicals, from weekly to an- 
nual, 31 of which are English, 35 German, 12 Nor- 
wegian, 8 Swedish, 3 Danish, and i Icelandic* 

We have 18 theological seminaries, 16 colleges, 22 
orphan houses and hospitals, and 11 schools for 

* lu 1895 there were 150. 



288 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

females, although the latter are not really under 
Church control.* 

These are interesting and cheering signs of pro- 
fifress, though it may be doubted whether the multi- 
plication of schools, especially colleges and semina- 
ries for theology, is the best policy. But this defect 
cannot be remedied, and all discussion upon the 
subject would lead to no good result, excepting 
enlightening the Church upon an acknowledged 
evil. 

Whilst we have been making progress in some 
directions, yet we are still far behind in others. I 
have reason to think that very few of our qlergy are 
real students ; many of them, no doubt, are readers 
of popular books and newspapers, but I know very 
few are prosecuting higher studies, so that if there 
weie vacancies in some of our professorships, for 
instance, it would not be an easy thing to fill them 
with first-class vien. Ordinary men enough can be 
had, but that is not the kind that the present state 
of learning demands. Too few of our men buy 
standard books; even the English translation of 
Schmid's Dogmatik has sold very slowly; perhaps 
looo copies have been disposed of, and yet this 
book is almost indispensable to a Lutheran theo- 
logian, f The same may be said of the sale of some 

* In 1895 there were 106. 

1 1 am pleased to hear that a new and improved edition of this 
great work is in course of preparation by its learned translators. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 289 

other English books printed in tliis conntr}^, al- 
though of not such commanding interest to the 
scholar as Schmid. 

Neither do large numbers of our clergy seem to 
feel any concern in extra measures for the advance- 
ment of the Church in influence and respectability. 
The Diets, for instance, awakened very little besides 
local interest. Some men even opposed them ; but 
I never heard of any opposition worth listening to 
except from men who were not invited to read 
papers, and they were confined to one section of 
the Church. 

Even when the opinion of influential mien on cer- 
tain matters proposed in the papers is invited, nobody 
responds. I know a man who, distrustful of his own 
judgment on several important subjects^ asked for 
light, and no one deigned to notice his request, 
Avhich led him to remark that his brethren were as 
stupid as himself, which was perhaps true ! 

D. D. 'S IN OUR CHURCH. 

Before the establishment of colleges in our Church, 
and before we had any authority of conferring lit- 
erary honors, there were not more than six or eight 
of our men who bore these titles. One reason was 
that the number of our ministers was very small, 
and the other was that very few of them, compara- 
tively, were thoroughly educated men. 

But when our institutions were empowered to be- 
stow these dignities and our ministry had been in- 
19 



290 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

creasing for years, the titles of D. D. and A. M. were 
unsparingly conferred. It is not for me to say any- 
thing about the fitness of most of these men, but 
this I know, that of many of the men honored with 
the title of D. D. very few would be chosen by the 
same Board as teachers of theology in any seminary. 

I know, and so do others, that not a few were thus 
titled for the services they had rendered or were ex- 
pected to render the Church and college — some in 
accordance with the earnest solicitation of friends, 
some in compliance with their own importunate 
though secret requests. But all of our colleges 
have become more careful, and for the last few 
years the roll of the distinguished has not been 
inconveniently increased. 

I presume there is scarcely any influential mem- 
ber of our college Boards who does not every year 
receive a gentle request or recommendation in that 
direction, but there seems to be a set purpose not 
to spend any more of the college funds in buying 
diplomas for eminent theologians! 

I opposed most of these nominations in the Col- 
lege Board, and it was because I did not want to aid 
in cheapening the title ; and, secondly, because most 
of the nominees did not come up to my standard; 
and, thirdly, there were so many others equally en- 
titled to it on the basis assumed by their friends, 
and why discriminate ? 

But some may ask, ** How was it in relation to 
yourself ? " It was just so. I challenge any one to 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 29I 

say that I ever, by letter or any other way, accepted 
any of the college titular honors bestowed upon me. 
No such letter will be found noticed upon the Sec- 
retary's record nor anywhere else ; and if my name 
sometimes appears in print with these suffixes, I have 
never authorized the use of them. Hence I felt free 
to vote against Doctoring some men whom neither I 
nor anybody else deemed fit for the distinction, but 
who were nominated for reasons very different from 
those of literary or theological qualification. 

Dr. Schaff once told me that you would hardly 
make a mistake in calling every Dutch Reformed 
minister Doctor. It has not yet become quite as bad 
among us, but I know a man who once made the 
experiment at one of our Synods. He was rather a 
stranger, and did not intimately know all the men. 
He was corrected in only a few instances. I was once 
a guest of a highly esteemed Dutch Reformed min- 
ister, and I called him Doctor^ which title he said he 
was not honored with. I told him the above incident 
in justification. He did not deny the truth of it. 
It would not do to reveal the proceedings of College 
Boards, but some queer stories might be told in re- 
lation to this matter. And yet, to the credit of 
many of our titled clergy, it may be said that they 
are equal, and in many cases superior, to the similar 
class of men in other churches. We have compara- 
tively as many good scholars and thoroughly bred 
theologians as they have. 



292 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 



FUNCTIONS. 

Every year of my pastoral life at the First church 
I instructed a class in the catechism, and confirmed 
those whom I could with a good conscience admit to 
the full privileges of membership. I occasionally 
gave great offence by rejecting some, especially the 
children of Germans whose parents did not belong 
to my church, but who sent their children to my 
class because they understood English better than 
German. They were generally very young, that is, 
twelve to fourteen, and I soon found out that the 
design was not so much Christian instruction with 
a view to salvation as conformity to ancient custom 
and mere ancestral habit. Now, whilst it is true 
that some of these were deeply impressed with the 
truth, and were confirmed by me, yet others merely 
learned the lessons as they would a school task, and 
the sooner it was over the better. Personal religion 
made no part of the business, but it was a merely 
mechanical process from beginning to end. Such I 
did not confirm, and the parents were much dis- 
pleased. 

I sometimes preached a sermon on this subject on 
the Sunday before I opened the class, in which I 
carefully explained the whole matter, and I found 
it always had a good effect. 

Successful catechising is not an easy thing, and 
hence it should be studied. From what I have 
heard, it is frequently performed in a slip-shod sort 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 293 

of manner, which is far from being edifying. Men 
who have never heard lectures upon it should care- 
fully read some treatise from which they might learn 
much- The only English book on this subject by 
any of our men which I now remember is one by 
Dr. Zeigler, which is said to be good. 

I wish this old-time churcJi custom were universal. 
I am persuaded the cause would gain much, and it 
is gratifying to hear that it is becoming more popu- 
lar in some new sections of the Church where it was 
formerly almost unknown. 

I, however, admitted by confirmation some per- 
sons to membership who had never been catechised 
according to the good old system, and I presume 
this is the practice of most ministers. They may 
be persons intelligent in the Scriptures, familiar with 
our church customs, and truly pious, whom no man 
has a right to debar froin any church privilege, even 
if in their case the old custom is not observed. The 
end of catechetical instruction is already secured in 
them, for they know the Scriptures, practice the 
Christian duties, and lead godly lives. 

I have never insisted upon confirmation in the 
case of those who joined our communion from other 
churches; for, recognizing their church membership 
elsewhere, confirmation would have been a super- 
fluous form. 

1 remember a case or two of persons who united 
with us as a church for the first time, who were not 
of Lutheran parentage, and who objected to con- 



294 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

firmation on the ground of its being- a mere cere- 
mony. I earnestly argued the question with them, 
and when I showed them that their objection was 
groundless they yielded. I found that the objection 
was based upon an unwillingness to come out singly 
before the church to make a confession, inasmuch as 
they had done what was equivalent to that before. 
In several cases I yielded as a matter of expediency, 
as no principle was involved. 

Some men make a difference between pastoral 
and social visiting. By the former they mean a 
visit of a purely religious character, when nothing 
but religion was spoken, and which usually, when 
convenient, was concluded with prayer. By social 
visiting they mean a polite call, with inquiries into 
the condition of the family's health and gossip in 
general. If religion was introduced at all, it was 
merely adventitious, and was not more personal or 
practical than the necessity of getting a new organ 
or other church improvement. 

How absurdly such men must feel when they go 
to make a pastoral visit and think that now nothing 
but religion must be talked of, and the following 
week at the social call there must be as little religion 
as possible introduced. This is mechanical, arti- 
ficial, and unscriptural. A judicious mingling of 
both at all visits is the best course, and a sensible 
inan can easily so arrange it. My pastoral practice 
for years was to have singing and prayer at the 
breaking up of every social gathering where at all 
practicable, and it always had a good effect. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 295 

I have known a few men who, on their first visits 
to their people, had prayers with every family. I 
know an elder who accompanied his pastor during 
his rounds to show him where the people lived, who 
said that " the pastor had him on his knees seven- 
teen times in one day. ' ' Some of the good people 
rejoiced that now at last they had secured a good 
pastor, for he prayed with them on his first visit ; but 
they never saw that pious exercise repeated, for he 
seldom or never called to see them again, and if he 
did the time was spent in frivolous talk. 

It is not always judicious or opportune to intro- 
duce personal religious appeals to unbelievers, whilst 
it is very easy and natural to bring up the subject 
before Christians, What is more pleasing than to 
converse with such on their own personal religious 
condition and the affairs of the kingdom generally? 

I once knew a zealous but verdant young minister 
who was very faithful in his pastoral attentions to 
the sick. He had noticed the absence from church 
for some time of one of the best young married 
women of his congregation, and upon being in- 
formed that she was sick, he hastened to her house to 
discharge his ministerial functions. He was admitted 
to the lady's chamber, and at once began his service 
for the sick, accompanied with the usual exhorta- 
tions to resignation and the merciful designs of 
heaven in afflicting His most faithful people. He 
earnestly prayed that God would not permit this 
sickness to be unto death, but that she might 



296 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

speedily recover to resume her position in the 
church and Sunday-school and her faniil}^ He 
prayed for her young husband that he might be 
prepared for the terrible calamity which the terrible 
death of his young wife might bring upon him, and 
heartily commended all to the loving mercy of the 
heavenly Father. He observed a lack of sympathy 
in the company of friends in the sick room, and it 
w^as not until he had left the house that he learned 
that the young mother, her husband, parents, 
brothers and sisters, and the whole relationship were 
rejoicing in the happy birth of a bouncing fat baby, 
and that a preliminary funeral service was not ex- 
actly in order ! ! ! 

Of course the report spread, and the verdant par- 
son was laughed at for his simplicity, though every- 
body gave him credit for zeal. He afterwards said 
himself that he heard something like an infantile 
whimpering under a snow-v/hite covering by the 
side of the dck miother ! ! ! 

I knew an inexperienced young brother who once 
visited a sick woman, with whom he earnestly prayed. 
As he was rising from his knees at her bedside, she, 
with pious fervor, threw her arms around his neck, 
and almost drew him down. He was shocked next 
day to hear that she was suffering from mania a potu ! 

LUTHER MEMORIAL MEETINGS IN 1 883. 

The occurrence of the 400th birth-year of Luther, 
on November 10, 1883, awakened a very lively in- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 297 

•terest in our Church as early as the fall of 1882. 
The Synods which met at that season adopted 
measures towards a general celebration of the 
event, most of w^hich have been very creditably 
carried out. A few Synods seemed to be indifferent 
about it, but they were those who were lax in doc- 
trine or deficient in energy' of every kind. 

All through the year our church papers contained 
numerous articles on Luther. Scarcely a number 
was issued that did not set forth some trait of his 
character or some fact connected with his history. 
The Observer even published a biography in weekly 
portions, but I do not think the people grew weary 
of the theme, although there was necessarily much 
repetition of well-known facts. 

During this year there were published independ- 
ently of the church papers more than 100 books, 
tracts, sermons, poems, and addresses concerning 
Luther, and I suppose that most of them were read. 
Many of our ministers preached discourses to their 
people, so that much useful and interesting infor- 
mation was disseminated, and they were always 
read}^ to receive more. 

The most popular demonstrations of this kind 
were the gatherings of a number of neighboring 
congregations in a grove, and on several occasions 
there were as many as 4,000 people present. These 
were held at places easily accessible by railroads, 
and it was not hard to collect large crowds. They 
were conducted on the picnic fashion, each family 



298 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

bringing its own provisions, but the religious exer- 
cises were of an inspiring nature. There were 
bands of musicians, besides church choirs, and in 
most cases an organ. Committees had been pre- 
viously appointed to make arrangements, prepare 
program, select subjects, and appoint speakers. 
The programs were printed, so that there was no 
confusion. The subjects all related to Luther, and 
a specific portion of time was allotted to each 
speaker, which, however, was not always observed. 
The whole day was devoted to the demonstration, 
and the occasions were hugely enjoyed. Hundreds 
of people came on foot, and hundreds more in their 
own vehicles, whilst the majority came by rail. 

The first one was held at Rupert, near Catawissa, 
Pa. , at which I was present, and this was followed 
by many others in various sections of the country. 
I v\^as invited to six, but owing to the distance I at- 
tended only three. Usually all our ministers from 
near and far were present. I began — but not quite 
soon enough — a collection of newspaper cuttings on 
this subject, with illustrations, from all the sources 
accessible to me. I bought the foreign journals, 
and many of our own country, which contained 
anything upon the subject, and in the course of 
some weeks I gathered an immense number of 
scraps, which I pasted in a large folio volume. I 
think this is unique, and it is essential to any man 
who desires to write an account of the extraordinary 
Liither celebration of 1883. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 299 

LUTHER STATUE. 

The subject of a Luther statue had been barely 
mentioned eight or ten years before the fact mater- 
ialized. I timidly proposed it in the Observer^ not 
very sure of a favorable hearing. 

I estimated the cost at $10,000, but my proposi- 
tion met with no cheering response, and though 
chagrined I was not disappointed. I was then sat- 
isfied with bringing out my plaster statuette of the 
Reformer, which some of his admirers will perhaps 
remember, and on which I of course lost mone}^ 
It was three feet high, and was modeled after vari- 
ous engraved likenesses and busts by a skillful artist 
in that department of work. There is a copy in the 
Seminary at Gettysburg, which was presented by a 
friend now deceased. 

It was not until the approach of the Luther com- 
memoration day of 1883, or a year or two before, 
that the erection of a Luther statue was seriously 
entertained. Several active laymen in New York, 
consisting of such ardent and liberal Luther admir- 
ers as Charles A. Schieren, now Mayor of Brooklyn, 
A. J. D. Wedemeyer, and J. Dobler, especially, laid 
hold of it with vigor, and a few of us in Baltimore 
fell in with the measure, among whom Gustavus A. 
Dobler deserves special mention for his energy and 
liberality in prosecuting the cause. We constituted 
ourselves a committee, for there was no one else to 
appoint us, and I have found in various analogous 
cases that this is the best way of accomplishing im- 



300 LI/E REMINISCENCES OF 

portant enterprises. Secure the interest of a few 
persevering, intelligent, whole-souled men, and then 
lay your plans and proceed. You will soon find 
helpers, who will be glad that you saved them the 
delay and annoyance of framing a constitution and 
electing officers and pushing the machine into 
motion. This committee consisted of myself, G. A. 
Dobler, J. G. Butler and George Ryneal, of Mary- 
land and the District of Columbia; A. J. D. Wede- 
meyer, C. A. Schieren and J. Dobler, of New York, 
and Daniel Fox, Esq., of Philadelphia. 

Through the kind offices of Mr. Sutro I corres- 
ponded with the sculptor Prof. Lenz, of Nurnberg, 
and got his proposal for a life-size statue. G. A. 
Dobler also wrote to the foundry at Lauchheimer, 
and received very favorable proposals for a f ac-simile 
statue of that in the Luther group at Worms. This 
was accepted by the committee at $4,500, to be de- 
livered at any German port most desirable to us. 
The bargain was consummated by telegraph, and a 
considerable part of the money paid immediately, 
which specimen of American promptness greatly 
astonished and gratified the German artists. Dur- 
ing the summer of 1883 one of our committee, Mr. 
Wedemeyer, during a visit to Germany, spent sev- 
eral days at the foundry, and gave all particular 
directions as to transportation. He had frequent 
consultations with the gentlemen connected with 
that great establishment, and all things were satis- 
factory. The work required longer time than we 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 30I 

expected, and hence the unveiling- was necessarily 
retarded. We hoped to have it ready by November 
10, 1883 (the 400th birthday of Lnther), but it did 
not arrive here until April, 1884. The steamship 
company charged no freight, and on my application 
to Mr. Garrett, President of the B. & O. R. R., he 
cheerfully offered to transport it to Washington. It 
is proper here to state that the Pennsylvania road 
had offered the same favor to me through one of its 
officers, but the statue was landed within a few yards 
of the B. & O., and hence the loading was more 
convenient. 

The press reporters in the city, always looking 
out for something fresh, were much concerned 
about it, and I had numerous calls for information. 
We expected it by every German steamer coming to 
Baltimore for several weeks before its arrival, and 
the fact of the non- arrival was duly heralded with 
much earnestness, and thus the excitement was kept 
up. When it finally came it was welcomed with 
eclat^ and the fact was telegraphed all over the 
country. The 21st of May was selected for the day 
of unveiling, and all our energies were directed 
towards that consummation. The pedestal had 
previously been contracted for, and everything was 
expected to be ready. For some weeks previous a 
sub-committee was busily engaged in selecting and 
engaging speakers and other persons to participate 
in the proceedings. Dr. Butler deserves the credit 
cf almost exclusively carrying on the large corres- 



302 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

pondence and attending to the numerous and often 
vexatioiis details. He worked faithfully for weeks 
in superintending the erection of the pedestal and 
all other necessary arrangements, and has the satis- 
faction of knowing that his onerous duties were well 
performed. 

Some of the gentlemen invited to take active part 
in the services declined, and others were selected. 
"We aimed at having nearly every section of the 
Church represented, and the individual selection 
was not an easy task. A few who were proposed 
by some members of the committee were rejected 
by the rest, for some of us were determined that no 
minister of our Church should speak on that occa- 
sion who had either opposed the enterprise or was 
indifferent to it, or who was unsound as a Lutheran, 
and for these reasons several otherwise respectable 
gentlemen's names did not appear on our program. 

The public exercises VN'^ere performed by the fol- 
lowing gentlemen: On Sunday night (May i8) Dr. 
F. W. Conrad delivered an oration on Luther, of an 
hour and a half's length, in Dr. Butler's church. 
On Tuesday night Dr. J. Fry, of Reading; Rev. Dr. 
Gilbert, of Winchester, Va. ; Rev. D. H. Geissinger, 
of Easton, Pa; and Rev. Dr. Swartz, then of Get- 
tysburg, Pa., and Hon, Mr. Miller, of New York, 
delivered addresses in the same church, and Rev. 
Dr. M. Sheeleigh read a poem. On Wednesday 
morning, May 21, Rev. Dr. Hennighausen, of Bal- 
timore, Revs. Mohldehnke and Wedekind, of New 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 303 

York, delivered German addresses, and at the un- 
veiling, in the afternoon of the same day, Hon. Mr. 
Conger, U. S. Senator from Michigan, and I deliv- 
ered orations in the open air upon the platform. 
Chief Justice Waite had promised to unveil the 
statue, but was sick. President Arthur previously 
declined. The committee had not decided who 
should draw the string until we were on the way 
from the church to the platform, when I suggested 
"Mr. Corcoran. They agreed, and he consented. 
An immense audience attended the ceremonies, 
among whom there were over loo Lutheran minis- 
ters. It was naturally expected that the fervor ex- 
cited upon this subject would result in the establish- 
ment of some other Lutheran institution, but thus 
far nothing has been suggested. I have no doubt 
if some influential man of leisure and energy would 
undertake something worthy of the Church he would 
succeed, but he would necessarily have to encounter 
opposition, unless he first secured the approbation 
of certain gentlemen, who will not consent that any 
individual should receive any credit for any specific 
work done. Besides, the Church has so many other 
enterprises on hand at present that it would be hard 
to succeed in anything else, and yet who knows but 
that something great will yet grow out of this statue 
celebration. 

Many queer incidents occurred during these num- 
erous commemorations, and many good things were 
said. Many of our own people learned more about 



304 LIFE REMINISCE^XES OF 

Luther than they knew before, and many outside of 
our pale were led to make inquiries, and some of 
these inquiries were of a very simple character. A 
lady of our Church told me that after returning 
from a celebration of November loth she remarked 
to a Presbyterian lady neighbor that " she very 
much enjoyed the commemoration of Luther's 
birthday. " " Why, ' ' replied the neighbor, ' ' I never 
knew you had a son named Luther. ' * 

THE LUTHER STATUETTE. 

In 1875, the year before the Centennial, several 
articles appeared in the Observer on the subject of 
erecting a statue of Luther in Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, as the Presbyterians had resolved to 
erect one of Dr. Witherspoon. I replied to the first 
article, highly approving of the object, and giving 
$10,000 as the probable expense of an ordinary work 
of art. The matter was not prosecuted further, but 
this induced me to have a plaster statuette of about 
T^d inches in height moulded. I thought it well to 
secure the interest and co-operation of several other 
men, and spoke to Dr. F. W. Conrad and Rev. Chas. 
A. Smith, formerly of our ministry, but then in the 
Presbyterian church, and both living in Phila- 
delphia. 

We went together to see the reduced model of the 
statue of Witherspoon which the sculp 'or had en- 
gaged to make for the Presbyterians. The artist 
was a Frenchman, whose establishment was in 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 305 

Market street, and his name was Bailley. He 
agreed to make a mould for ns at feoo, but could 
not execute it for some months, until his return 
from Central America. This did not suit us. I 
returned home and engaged Dr. Volck, of Balti- 
more, on my own account, but subject to the final 
acceptance of the two men in Philadelphia. Dr. 
Volck made a sample, which I had photographed 
and sent to them. They did not approve of it, and 
thus I was thrown upon my own responsibility. In 
the preparation of the model the Doctor used all the 
acknowledged likenesses of Luther, and even sent 
to St. Louis for a mask of Ranch's well-known 
Luther bust in the Walhalla, near Munich, which 
he specially followed in making his own. I took 
this mask to Philadelphia and showed it to Conrad 
and Smith, without, however, telling them that it 
was Ranch's. They condemned it, but when I told 
them the origin of it they were much confused, and 
blamed me for leading them into such a mischievous 
scrape. It is not everybody who has had that 
degree of artistic taste or culture which would 
qualify them to judge in such a case. 

I then proceeded alone, paying Volck $200 for the 
mould, and advertising the statuette. I employed 
an Italian image maker to mould the statuettes, 
paying him $5 for each, including packing. I 
charged $10 for the first copies, and I did not re- 
ceive orders for more than about twenty, and of 
course lost considerably on the enterprise. Though 



3o6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

many of onr ministers and people glorify Luther in 
exalted strains, very few of them were willing to 
buy what was considered by good judges an admir- 
able statuette as an ornament for their parlors, 
studies or Sunday-school rooms. High art has 
made little progress among us, and hence there are 
few patrons. In one hundred years hence it may 
be different. 

Wherever the statuette has been seen by artists it 
has been pronounced an admirable piece of work, 
and extremely like the universally accepted likeness 
by Ranch, but many of our people thought it did 
not look like Liithcr — just as if they knew anything 
about it. To such an enligJiiened critic, who was 
sure it did not resemble Luther, I once meekly ob- 
served, " It was so long since I had seen brother 
Martin that I did not remember how he looked. ' ' 
The critic wilted. 

ELECTION OF PROFESSORS AND PRESirENTS. 

I have taken part in the election of most of our 
professors and other officers in the Seminary and in 
college, which in most cases occasioned no difficulty, 
for usually the candidates had been determined 
upon, and nothing was necessary but to vote them 
in. In a few other cases there was a difference of 
opinion, and several candidates were presented by 
their respective friends. I never, however, observed 
anything like fierce party strife, but everything was 
done in kindness and mutual respect. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 307 

I shall notice only several cases. Until 1830 Dr. 
Schmucker had been the only professor in the Sem- 
inary. He taught all the classes, and at a small 
salary. He might have continued to do it, for the 
number of students did not exceed 15, and for some 
years it did not reach that number. If he had done 
that, which it is true would have demanded a little 
more labor, the Seminary would have saved a good 
deal of money, and some unpleasant events might 
have been avoided. But there was an ambition to 
spread out. Dr. Hazelius was elected second pro- 
fessor, and this transaction turned out to be costly 
and injurious. 

There were very few thoroughly educated theo- 
logians among us at that remote period, and what 
few we had were extravagantly extolled. None of 
us had ever seen Dr. Hazelius, who was the only 
candidate, but he had the reputation of being a good 
scholar, and had been teacher in Hartwick Seminary 
for a number of. years. He was elected, and accepted 
without delay. He was as good, kind, guileless a soul 
as ever lived, and in his simplicity he thought that 
everybody was as honest as himself. He was of an 
extremely social nature, and it was not long before 
he felt himself uncomfortable in his new position, 
and wished himself back at Hartwick, or anywhere 
else. Besides this his salary was paid, for the most 
part, out of the invested capital of the Seminary^ 
which was unwise and unbusiness-like. This in a 
short time occasioned embarrassment, but what else 



3o8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

could be done ? There was not enough revenue 
from investments to support both professors, and 
this fact annoyed the good Doctor painfully. He 
did not remain more than several years, and was then 
elected to the professorship in the Seminary of the 
South Carolina Synod. A leading member of that 
Synod wrote to me, inquiring about the qualifica- 
tions of a minister who was spoken of for that posi- 
tion. Instead of giving him an opinion, I recom- 
mended Dr. Hazelius, who I knew was anxious to 
leave Gettysburg. My South Carolina friend was 
overjoyed to hear it, and they chose the Doctor 
immediately, and he went as soon as he could get 
off. He was in many respects an interesting man, 
and performed all his duties faithfully. He died at 
Lexington, S. C, in 1853, aged 76.* 

I remember well that on one occasion the Semi- 
nary Board held an adjourned meeting in a gentle- 
man's parlor in Gettysburg, and thirteen ballotings 
were held before a candidate received a majority, 
and then it was only one. It was midnight before 
we parted, and the only thing that secured a major- 
ity was the complete exhaustion of a few of the mem- 
bers. They wanted to leave town in the morning, 
and it was necessary that the vacancy should be 
filled. It was a severe struggle, but all was con- 
ducted in the best good humor. One man at length 
yielded, and the matter was decided. I do not think 
that the gentleman elected has ever found out what 

* See Sprague's Annals and my " Fifty Years." 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 309 

a protracted effort it cost his friends to elect him. 
All the rest submitted to the result gracefully. 

We once had great trouble in persuading an 
elected officer of one of the schools to accept the 
position. We all voted for him, and the meeting 
was held in his own house. There was some diffi- 
culty in the way, and it was toward midnight before 
it was finally adjusted to the satisfaction of all. 

When Dr. Baugher, Sr., was elected President of 
Pennsylvania College in the place of Dr. Krauth, 
transferred to the Seminary, I was one of the commit- 
tee appointed to inform him of the fact. The Board 
was still in session, and it was important to hear his 
decision before it adjourned. We proceeded to his 
residence, which was then out of town, on the road 
to the alnivshouse. We found him at home, and 
upon being ushered into his study, I without many 
words announced his election. Without uttering a 
previous Vv^ord of acknowledgment he abruptly re- 
plied, " I will not accept it!" He appeared vexed 
at hearing it, but after some consideration he with- 
drew his declination and accepted the office. 

I could recite another instance of difficulty and 
vexation and midnight election struggle, but I will 
forbear. Some facts in history had better be un- 
written. 

The lamented death of Dr. Stork, who had so 
ably filled the professor's chair in the Seminary, 
rendered an election necessary. There were several 
candidates for the place, and there was the unusual 



3IO LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

number of 45 members of the Board at the special 
meeting called for this purpose. There was more 
excitement than usual, and the friends of the sev- 
eral candidates were very sanguine. Indeed, there 
were several members present who usually absented 
themselves from the regular meetings. One of the 
candidates received but three votes of the 45, and 
Dr. Valentine all the rest. There was some sharp 
disappointment and chagrin felt out of doors, not se> 
much at the election of Dr. Valentine as at the 
complete discomfiture of their favorite. 

A few members of the Board had concluded to 
bring forward Dr. Christlieb, of Bonn, and it would 
have been done if one of his advocates had not been 
suddenly called home during the meeting. I do 
not think that Dr. Christlieb would have been 
chosen, for the minds of the Board were set upon 
Dr. Valentine ; and besides it was not knovrn how 
Dr. Christlieb was disposed, and it was considered a 
hazardous experiment. 

During the summer of 1884 Dr. Hamma, of Bal- 
timore, went to Europe, and took occasion to call 
and see Dr. Christlieb. I gave him a letter of in- 
troduction to him, and a month afterwards Dr. 
Hamma wrote me that he had seen Dr. Christlieb, 
and casually spoke to him on the subject. He said 
that whilst he would like to labor for the Church in 
the United States, yet that he felt himself too old 
for such a move, but especially that he thought it 
his duty to remain in Germany to fight the battle of 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 3II 

Orthodoxy against the Rationalists; and I think his 
conclusion was sensible. 

It has always seemed to me absurd to ask a 
learned German professor to come over here and 
teach (as he would be compelled to do) the elements 
of theology, or, it might be, the alphabet of Hebrew. 
He would spurn it with disdain, and denounce the 
day he ever consented to become the preceptor of 
young men in preliminary branches which they 
should have learned long before at the University. 
I know something about one celebrated German 
divine who was elected to a position in this country, 
and of whom it was really expected that he would 
teach the A B C of the German language to mis- 
chievous American boys and a few theological 
students. He did not come. 

It might well enough suit a young man who had 
not yet acquired a reputation, and who could easily 
accommodate himself to our manners and church 
life; but to ask a man of European celebrity and 
long-established German habits to come over and 
lecture to our half-trained theological students is 
literally expecting a little too much. 

I once heard a German professor of high distinc- 
tion, in one of our Church Seminaries, openly de- 
clare in Synod that his pupils were not sufficiently 
advanced to be profited by his lectures, and for that 
and other reasons he resigned. 

Dr. Valentine's transfer to the Seminary left the 
College Presidency vacant, and various gentlemen 



312 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

were named as suitable successors. On Wednesday 
morning, June 25th, 1884, the Trustees met, when 
after long deliberation the Rev. Charles S. Albert, 
of St. Mark's, Baltimore, was chosen by 19 votes to 
one blank. A committee was appointed to wait 
upon him next day in Baltimore, but owing to the 
destruction of a portion of the railroad by a flood, 
they did not see him until the following Monday. 
Mr. Albert declined the offer. 

An extra meeting of the Board was called for 
July 15, when Dr. McKnight was elected, and 
finally accepted the place. 

COLLECTING FUNDS FOR THE SEMINARY. 

No wonder that in the early history of the Semi- 
nary and some other good Church institutions many 
serious blunders were made in the methods of col- 
lecting funds for their support. That business was 
not elevated to an art as it is to-day, and hard work 
was done in securing the requisite funds. Collectors 
were constantly in the field, and small donations 
were in order. Gifts of thousands were not known 
in our Church, and were not common anywhere. 
Benjamin Keller, Prof. Schmucker and Benjamin 
Kurtz were the most successful solicitors, although 
other men, such as Rev. Dr. J. G. Schmucker and a 
few others, did efficient work. 

Prof. Schmucker 's field was principally among the 
New Englanders, and B. Kurtz spent two years in 
Europe in this service. He was there when Ration- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 313 

alism was still popular. His cause was novel, his 
manners were engaging, but not polished after the 
European style, his preaching so simple and impres- 
sive that many were disposed to contribute small 
sums for the sake of the man, if not for the cause. 
After two years' hard work he managed to bring to 
the Seminary treasury not over $12,000, besides 
piles of books, many of which were of no account. 

I think that I have recorded the fact somewhere 
else that our Board once voted a donation of some 
of these books to the Theological Seminary which a 
short time previously had been established in Co- 
lumbus, O., with Prof. Schmidt as President. I met 
him in Frederick not long after he had received the 
books, and he complained grievously of the quality 
of the donation. He said with few exceptions they 
consisted of nothing but old German prayer-books 
and sermons, which he did not want, and of which 
he could make no use. I can easily conceive all 
this, for the selection was left to a gentleman who 
was not too favorably inclined to the Ohio Seminary, 
and who was only too glad to disencumber our 
shelves of a pile of useless lumber, and who thought 
besides that these useless old books were good 
enough for what, in his opinion, was a very small 
concern! 

In connection with Mr. Kurtz's agency it may be 
worth while to state that his services were rendered 
gratuitously, but he still, and I think very properly, 
too, looked for something more substantial than a 



314 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

vote of thanks. I do not mean that he desired any 
pecuniary compensation, but he did intimate that 
some of the very nice fancy articles which were sold 
at a fair in Baltimore would be acceptable, and 
which he intended as presents to some of his female 
parishioners at Hagerstown, for he was then a wid- 
ower. All the articles were sold, and he got noth- 
ing ; he then said that he would be pleased to receive 
a few of the best and most costly books. The result 
of the whole proceeding was that he was presented 
with a duplicate copy of a Hebrew Bible ! This was 
not the action of the Board, but of a single individ- 
ual. I have the best reason to know that this fact 
mortified him to the very quick, and he spoke of it 
privately many years after as one of the most humil- 
iating events of his life. He had too much self- 
respect to speak of it publicl)^ or to complain, but it 
harassed him painfully for years, and he never en- 
tirely recovered from it. 

Persons entirel}' incompetent to the work were 
appointed as solicitors, and I myself, when quite a 
young man, was inconsiderate enough to go out upon 
such an expedition. Why did not some judicious 
friend dissuade me from it ? 

I had no experience, and not another single qual- 
ification. I had not been in the ministry over a few 
months; I was not known, and in all respects the 
most unfit man for such a position. But I ventured 
upon the ill-considered enterprise, and the result 
may be foreseen. I hired a vehicle, went up as far 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 315 

as Winchester, and did not receive, even in promises 
to pay, as much as my expenses amounted to, but I 
paid these myself, so that the Seminary at least did 
not suffer. I have not gone out on such business 
since ! 

In the course of years the Seminary has received 
some bequests, though none very large ; but by dint 
of perseverance I presume that over $100,000 have 
been collected in the course of fifty years.* Many 
subscriptions were never paid (and some money has 
been lost). The Board was not always judicious in 
the choice of its Treasurers; good, honest men they 
were, but they were not practiced financiers, and did 
not know how to invest funds wisely. The present 
Treasurer (1886) is the only one I remember who 
had the necessary business qualifications for that 
office. 

The efficient services in securing funds for the 
Seminary rendered by Rev. Drs. Brown and F. W. 
Conrad deserve the most honorable mention. These 
gentlemen brought together considerable sums, but 
their labors belong to a later period of the Semi- 
nary's history, and my design in this chapter is to 
speak of the early times more particularly, f 

* It was announced in 1885 that several large bequests were 
made, which have since been paid (1896), amounting to almost 

^lOOjOCO. 

t See my History of the Seminary ; Eva7igclical Review. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GENERAI, MISCEI.I<ANY : JENNY I,IND — EXCURSIONS— PRIVATE 
I.IBRARIES— THE REBEI.I,ION— GIVING OFFENCE UNINTEN- 
TIONAI.I.Y — KOSTI^IN'S I.IFE OF I.UTHER— BAD TREATMENT — 
HOUSE ROBBED — CURIOUS WEDDING EVENT — KOSSUTH IN BAI,- 
TIMORE— I.IST OF I.UTHERAN PUBI,ICATlON3— VISITS FROM 
FOREIGNERS. 

When Jenny Lind was in Baltimore I became ac- 
quainted v^ith her, and exchanged several letters 
with her afterwards, one of which I gave to Brantz 
Mayer, who was an autograph collector. She had 
made up her mind to come to our church on Sun- 
day in company with Consul Brauns, a faithful 
member; but when she saw the immense crowd 
assembled in the streets around Barnum's she tim- 
idly shrank, fearing that the unthinking multitude 
would foHow her carriage, which would have been 
the case, to her great discomfort and our incon- 
venience. If she had come to our church there 
would have been such a rush as was never wit- 
nessed, so insane was the curiosity of the ignobile 
vulgiis to see the great singer whom they could not 
afford to pay to hear. 

I was offered tickets to her concerts, but never 
went. First, because most of my people, not know- 

(316) 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 317 

ing that my tickets were free, would have thought 
hard of me for paying $7 (the price) ; and secondly, 
because she sung in a theatre, where I would have 
been severely blamed for going. Two ministers, 
one of our own Church and one a Protestant Meth- 
odist, both editors, were reprehended in one of the 
dailies for going to a theatre to hear Lind sing. 
Some of my good people said to me they were glad 
I did not go, for I would have been included in the 
censure by name ; and so was I. 

The opinions of thousands of people have changed 
on this subject. Whilst it would not be safe for a 
minister to go to a theatre to witness a regular dra- 
matic performance, yet the public will now permit 
him to go to a theatre to hear a lecture or a con- 
cert, or to be present at a college commencement or 
a meeting in behalf of any good object. 

EXCURSIONSc 

The poet Rogers, of London, was in the habit for 
many years of giving breakfasts to his foreign visi- 
tors, and to everybody else who was anybody. The 
guests were sure to, meet people of distinction in 
every profession, and hence the honor of an invita- 
tion was anxiously coveted. Rogers was once much 
amused at receiving a reply from an American lady 
whom he invited to breakfast, which contained no 
other words than " Won't I ?" He used to tell the 
story with great glee, and he thought it exceed- 
ingly smart and characteristically American. 



3l8 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

This was in effect my reply to a polite note from 
the high authorities of the Northern Central Rail- 
road to accompany an excursion party as far as Wat- 
kins Glen, in New York. Most readily did I say 
" Won't I?" and we went. 

The party consisted of two clergymen, some 
artists, newspaper reporters of course, and a few 
miscellaneous amateurs. They were all gentlemen 
of culture, and some of them of reputation, as for 
example. General Strother, of Virginia, the genial 
" Porte Crayon " of Harper's Magazine. The rest 
of us were no persons in particular in our own esti- 
mation, although a few of our artists are rising fast 
in public favor, and will be further heard of after a 
while. Every one of them has studied abroad, and 
the only sculptor among us is the only one who in- 
tends to return to Europe, the main reason of which 
is that a GeiTQan lady of beauty and high social 
distinction captured his young heart, and he mar- 
ried her. She is the accomplished daughter of the 
most exalted Lutheran hierarch in the kingdom of 
Bavaria, whom we had the pleasure of meeting in 
Leipzig some years ago, whose official title now is 
Oberconsistorialrath und Reichsrath^ Dr. H. 

Our company was composed for the most part of 
young men w^ho, when out of their studies and their 
editorial coops, are expected to be gay, and of right 
should be. Nature requires it, the gospel sanctions 
it. Most of them behaved like boys let out of school, 
and yet there was nothing undignified or unbecom- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 319 

ing the gentleman. There was sparkling wit, sharp 
repartee, unctuous story-telling, classic quotation, 
extempore poetry, refined song, racy conversation, 
and everything exhilarating you could expect from 
a company of educated excursionists. Nothing 
offensive or discordant with perfect propriety was 
said or done. Every man seemed determined to 
contribute his best to render the occasion agreeable, 
and the most awkward among us put in his share to 
the general enjoyment, if in no other way than by 
creating a laugh at his bad puns or his unmusical 
songs. We were furnished with a car for our ex- 
clusive use, supplied with everything that could re- 
fresh the outer and the inner man, and as we had 
with us a high official of the railroad company, we 
switcJied off where we pleased, and were taken up 
by the next or any other train that passed. It was 
impossible for us to escape observation Avherever we 
stopped, for the artists would disembark with their 
camp-stools and sketching apparatus to copy scen- 
ery, and would soon have around them a group of 
staring country boys wondering w^hat these city men 
were doing, and then some of us, wdth rod and 
tackle, would try for a trout and catch only a chub, 
or one of us, with insect net, would break his shins 
over stones and rush through briars after a butter- 
fly, to the wonderment of the group of rustics. 

It was necessary also in maintaining perfect rail- 
road discipline to telegraph ahead our coming, so that 
at every station of importance we were met by the 



320 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

dignitaries of the place, by the editor, and road offi- 
cer and subordinates, who were anxious to see these 
great men from Baltimore, and all our names were 
paraded in the next morning's paper with consid- 
erable flourish and eclat ^ various invitations to 3tay 
and look round were extended, which Vv'e could not 
accept, and after a brief levee on the platform, but 
no long speeches, we were summoned to our car and 
off we went with railroad speed. 

To some of our company the scenery along the 
Susquehanna was quite new, and the artists saw 
many a place which they would have liked to transfer 
to their sketch books. The towns wore the same un- 
washed, frowsy appearance, and presented so little 
attraction that their names were not even asked. 
The editors and reporters would occasionally inquire, 
but I do not think these villages will find a place in 
their published accounts of the excursion. 

Of course conversation sometimes lagged, and 
somehow or other men will sleep, and in their sleep 
in a railroad car they assume most unclassical posi- 
tions and utter most unmusical sounds. A few 
piped gently, others groaned, some snorted outright, 
and one burly fat man gave out all the dissonant 
noises of a starting locomotive. Whilst some were 
indulging in these innocent though annoying amuse- 
ments some of the artists sketched their likenesses, 
a little caricatured of course, which afforded infinite 
fun to all around. What a wonderful talent in 
sketching these men have ! In a few minutes they 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 32 1 

transfer to the paper a recognizable likeness of a 
man, with all the surroundings, which, though 
roughly drawn, is fit for a portfolio or a specimen 
of art. They talk most excellently with their pen- 
cils, and convey truer and sounder ideas, and better 
expressed, than many of them do with their tongues. 
The more careful sketches some of them took of 
scenes to be published in Harper's are exquisite 
gems, and it is a pity that they must be reduced in 
size and engraved on wood for that magazine. 

On another excursion to which I was invited by 
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the company was 
composed of such men as George Bancroft, Prof. 
Henry, Brantz Mayer, and some others. We pro- 
ceeded as far as Wheeling, and thence by boat to 
Pittsburg. Bancroft's design was to trace the route 
of Braddock's army from Fort Frederick, in Mary- 
land, to Pittsburg. Our first stopping place was at 
Harper's for several hours, then at Fort Frederick, 
and whilst we were surveying the remains Bancroft 
said it was just one hundred years ago, on that very 
day, that Braddock occupied that place. 

We stopped all night at Martinsburg, where we 
were entertained by Hon. Mr. Faulkner. We tar- 
ried at many places between that and Cumberland, 
where we were elegantly entertained by Mayor 
Tucker and others. We dined one day with Mr. 
Weld at the Mt. Savage Iron Works. At Frostburg 
we made a long pedestrian tour, and according to 
Bancroft we found the road cut by Braddock for the 
21 



32 2 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

march of his army. Vv^hen we arrived at Pittsburg 
as the party selected Sunday for the inspection 
of Braddock's field, I did not accompany them, 
but stayed in the city and preached. 

This was a most delightful and instructive tour, 
which continued eight days. We had sleeping and 
cooking apartments on the cars, and stopped wher- 
ever we pleased. I v^as often alone on our wander- 
ings with Mr. Bancroft, and often tried to draw out 
his religious and theological views, but could not 
succeed. It was a subject he avoided, but on his- 
torical and literary matters he was open, and let me 
say inexhaustible. For the remembrance of facts, 
places, dates, men, ho was remarkable. It was a 
w^eek of unmixed enjoyment. Prof. Henry, with 
his rich stores of learning, and Brantz Mayer, with 
his sprightliness and literary anecdotes, contributed 
much to the pleasure of the company. 

There was another excursion on the Baltimore and 
Ohio given to a few of us of the Academy of Science. 
This was only free as far as the transportation was 
concerned, but we had a distinct train, under the 
direction of an officer of the company. Our caterer 
laid in a good stock of provisions, and we enjoyed 
ourselves to perfection. Our evenings were spent 
in the cars, when I would give a burlesque lecture 
on every insect that would fly to our lamps. 

At some village on the Alleghanies we were vis- 
ited by a well-educated German doctor, who was so 
enamored with the ale which some of the party had 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 323 

Vv'itli them that he traveled with us nearly a whole 
day. I presume he had not enjoyed such fare as we 
fed him on for many a day. He and I had a dispute 
on Christianity, and by a happy question I so turned 
the laugh of the whole company upon him that he 
left us at the next station, having fared sumptuously 
at our table. 

PRIVATE LIBRARIES. 

Very few of our ministers of 40 or 50 years ago, or 
even much later, could afford to buy good libraries. 
The fact is that very few had time to study, and 
again more of them had not been trained to habits 
of study. The collections of first-class theological 
books were few until the establishment of the sem- 
inaries, and in the beginning there was nothing re- 
markable even about them, but they have improved 
wonderfully since. 

Some of our professors and pastors have fair col- 
lections — I do not mean in quantity, but in quality — 
and several of them have large and rich libraries. 
That of Rev. Dr. Krauth, of Philadelphia, is the 
largest private library probably of any minister in 
the country, and it is exceedingly rich m the highest 
departments of literature. It has often been al- 
luded to by scholars, and Dr. Thomas, the author 
of the Pronouncing Biographical and Mythological 
Dictionary, says that he found assistance from Dr. 
Krauth 's library which he could at that time find 
nowhere else in the United States. The rarest and 



324 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

most useful books on Lutheran theology and Sym- 
bolik abound in the collection, which you can see 
nowhere else in the countr}^ 

Rev. Dr. B. M. Schmucker has a rich collection 
of works on Luther's Litiirgik^ some of which are 
unique. 

My own special collection is confined to books on 
Luther, of which I now have some very rare and 
curious copies, and to books written by Lutheran 
ministers in America. 

Some other men have made a specialty of collect- 
ing Lutheran pamphlets, proceedings of Synod and 
the like. The largest of this character of publica- 
tions was made by Rev. Dr. Sheeleigh, which was 
purchased by the Lutheran Historical Society. 

I have never aimed at collecting a large library. 
First, I could not afford it ; secondly, I had no room 
for it ; thirdly, I have observed that even owners of 
large collections are not always the most industrious 
readers, and if they are students at all they find that 
their books of reference are sufficient, and this is the 
experience of most students; and fourthly, I have 
always had access to fair collections, and since the 
Peabody and the Johns Hopkins libraries have been 
instituted, I have the use of every book I wish to 
consult. 

I have expended hundreds of dollars on books, 
and imported large numbers from Germany, but I 
have sold off several collections, and never had over 
2,000 volumes at any one time. That morbid dis- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 325 

position to buy books so common to young- students 
has happily left me long ago. My reference volumes 
answer all my present purposes, and the books which 
I read I get from the libraries, especially the Mer- 
cantile, Peabody and Johns Hopkins University 
libraries. 

Not a few of my later possessions are the gifts of 
the authors, but years ago I also received as gifts 
valuable books from de Menneville and Bossange, of 
Paris; from Burmeister, Sturm, Ericson, Troschel, 
Herrick, Schaeffer, Dunker, and other naturalists, 
of Germany; Dr. Rogers, Doubleday, and others, 
of England, saying nothing of many of our own 
writers on this side. The number of pamphlets sent 
me by the authors of them is very considerable. 

THE REBELLION. 

During the rebellion I was not a pastor, but 
librarian in the Peabody Institute. Though the 
congregation in Lexington street which I had served 
so many years was for the most part on the side of 
the Union, yet that would not have determined the 
decided stand I took had I been their pastor. Be- 
fore I knew v/hich side my former friends would 
assume I had openly proclaimed myself for the gov- 
ernment, and on that ground I stood to the end. 
Some of our city clergy of other churches held the 
same position, others espoused the Southern cause, 
and a few affected to be indifferent, and a few vainly 
tried to accommodate themselves to both parties, 
and thus lost the confidence of both. 



326 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

It cost something to be an uncompromising Union 
man in those early days. For one or two days we 
were threatened with an order of expulsion from the 
city, and we were forbidden for a short time to dis- 
play the Union flag, but a change of sentiment soon 
occurred. 

Some men and women whose pastor I had been 
for many years, whose children I had baptized, and 
some of whom I had buried, whose friend and com- 
forter I had been in trouble, and their welcome 
guest always, broke up all intercourse with me and 
my family, and would not even speak to me when 
we met. Some of them maintained this hostile 
stand for over ten years, until their death. It led 
some of them to leave our Church and connect 
themselves with congregations whose pastors and 
people were more demonstratively on the Southern 
side. A general notion also prevailed that the 
* ' aristocracy ' ' and fashionable people belonged to 
that party, and this led some of those who vSighed to 
be respectable^ and whose personal merits would not 
have secured recognition by that class, to take ad- 
vantage of this crisis to secure a standing among 
them. They succeeded to some extent, as long as 
their money and help were wanted, but they were 
dropped out of the ranks when the excitement was 
over. 

It was for a considerable time regarded as a very 
bold, and by some a presumptuous act, to pray for 
the President of the United States. I remember on 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 327 

several occasions when I prayed in churches, not 
our own, that some people would abruptly leave the 
church, making as much disturbance as possible, 
and I am sure that if you had asked them what was 
the cause of the rebellion, not one-half of them would 
have been able to give an intelligent answer. 

One of our Pennsylvania ministers, who was a very 
popular man, preached in one of our Lutheran 
churches, and gave great offence by praying that the 
Lord would grant success to our army and navy. 
He has never since been invited to that pulpit. 
Even the Union men thought he was too denunci- 
atory for the pulpit, and feared that some of the 
party would be so grievously offended as to leave 
the Church. 

To show the gradual improvement in public opin- 
ion in one of our churches at least, the pastor, who 
was not loyal at heart, came to me in great glee, 
and said " that there was no danger in praying for 
the President now !" He did not rejoice that he 
could now discharge a plain Christian duty unmo- 
lested, but that by so doing he would not openly 
offend his secession friends, and that he would 
thereby gratify his Union members ! 

I received a commission from the National Sani- 
tary Board, and for some time discharged the duties 
required. I one day heard that a Pennsylv^ania reg- 
iment commanded by Col. Hartranft, since Gover- 
nor, which was encamped near the city, had some 
sick men who needed attention. I went immedi- 



328 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ately, announced my benevolent errand to the Col- 
onel through a subordinate, and was deeply mortified 
when word was sent me purporting to come from 
him that my services were not required, and he did 
not want to be annoyed by any such offers. Per- 
haps the man I sent in did not convey my message 
properly, or the Colonel was in a bad humor, or it 
may be that his reply was not properly reported to 
me. At any rate, I went away mortified that the 
benevolent design of the Commission should have 
been so inhumanly repelled. 

Thousands of troops passed our village of Luther- 
ville in the railroad cars during the war, and as we 
could hear the rumbling of the train and the yelling 
of the soldiers a mile distant, a number of us loyal 
citizens would rush down to the road and welcome 
them as they passed by waving the Union flag and 
giving them enthusiastic hurrahs. Their response 
came with a will. 

Some of our neighbors did not share in our sym- 
pathies, and this unhappy disposition was near lead- 
ing to what would hav^e been a deplorable result. 
One evening as a train crowded with soldiers was 
rushing by, a rebel flag was displayed at a window 
not far below us. This imprudent act exasperated 
some of the men on the train, and one of them fired 
at a number of ladies standing in the window flaunt- 
ing the hateful banner. Fortunately the ball struck 
the house and no one was hurt. It was an unjusti- 
fiable and cowardly act on both sides. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 329 

During the war our railroad from Harrisburg to 
Baltimore was guarded by troops, a company of 
whom were encamped near our village. This com- 
pany was commanded by Captain Beaver, now Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania (1889). 

We in the village * never felt ourselves in any 
particular danger from the rebels but once, and 
then our apprehensions were groundless. 

One Sunday morning in going to church, in com- 
pany with Dr. B. Sadtler and our families, we saw 
two dense columns of smoke apparently three or four 
miles distant up the railroad. We had heard of a 
small detachment of rebels being in the neighbor- 
hood, and when we saw the smoke the Doctor at 
once suspected that they had set fire to some barns 
or houses, and that in all probability they would pay 
us a visit before night. We went to church, how- 
ever, and the Doctor performed the services, and 
preached with his usual dignity and calmness with- 
out betraying any emotion. When the service 
ended, and we came out, a young man had just 
arrived at the place on a horse all foaming with 
sweat, announcing the approach of the rebels. We 
hurried home, and most of us concealed our watches 
and other valuables. I hid a lot of such material 
under a wood-pile. We hid our horses out of sight, 
and calmly (?) awaited the enemy. I knew well 
enough that if I could have an interview with the 
commanding officer I could probably prevent his 

^Lutherville, Md. 



330 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

men from plundering us, for I believ^ed that was all 
they wanted. He and his father had taken tea with 
me not many months before, and I could with suc- 
cess have appealed to his gentlemanly instincts. 
One of his subordinates had in the meantime robbed 
our post office, compelling the postmaster to deliver 
up the small amount belonging to the government 
in his hands, but "private property was respected." 

Whilst we, with our families, were awaiting the 
approach of * ' the enemy, ' ' and feeling rather un- 
comfortable also, to our great gratification, instead 
of continuing down the turnpike leading to our vil- 
lage, they turned off into a lane about a half a mile 
above us, and that assured us that instead of paying 
us a visit the commander was leading his men 
towards his father's residence, five or six miles dis- 
tant from us, which turned out to be the fact. Our 
apprehensions were relieved, and we went to bed 
that night in peace. 

The commander of this marauding troup, Harry 
Gilmor, professed conversion to Christianity (1880- 
1882), and boarding one summer (1880) in our village, 
was a regular attendant at our church services. 
He died in 1882. 

At a meeting called for loyal ministers, held in 
the lecture-room of St. John's church. Liberty street, 
about this time, I offered the following resolutions, 
but I was prevailed upon to withdraw them, as being 
too strong for some weak-kneed gentlemen present : 

"Whereas, In the call for this meeting it was distinctly 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 33 1 

stated that it was to be composed of loyal ministers only, and 
as that phrase is variously interpreted, and an unwarrantable 
latitude of meaning given to it by some, we deem it proper on 
this occasion to state precisely our understanding of it. 

"i. We hold that he is not a loyal minister who gives no 
other evidence of his loyalty than by a cautious silence of ex- 
pression against the government, without ever saying or doing 
anythingybr the government. We regard that negative loyalt}^ 
as unworthy the honored name, and the men who practice it as 
not entitled to seats in this meeting. 

"2. We do not regard him as a loyal minister who in the 
presence of loyal people seems to incline to ^'/2^/r side, and in 
presence of rebels and traitors seems to favor them. 

"3. We do not consider him a loyal minister who seldom or 
never in his pulpit offers prayers distinctly for the President of 
the United States, but satisfies his conscience and that of his 
disloyal people l)y praying only for 'those in authority,' with- 
out even the qualifying word 'legal' or any other word dis- 
criminating th.& present government. 

"4, We do not hold him to be a loyal minister w^ho only at 
this late day is loud in his profession of loyalty and in praise 
of the late murdered President, when the popular feeling is in 
that direction, and an outraged community demands a profes- 
sion of national faith from the public teachers of religion, es- 
pecially when some such teachers have written, uttered, de- 
fended and voted for disloyal resolutions. 

"5. We doubt the loyalty of those ministers who give no 
other evidence of it, than taking a compulsory oath of allegi- 
ance. 

" Having thus stated the negative aspect of the case, \h& pos- 
itive is apparent and the public will know our definition of a 
loyal minister." 

This was too strong meat for the majority, and 
they begged me to withdraw. them to avoid confusion 
and the exposure of some of the weak brethren. 



$^2 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Nothing" came out of the meeting. Most of those 
present were opposed to the government; others 
better disposed were afraid of offending their rebel 
parishioners. The few faithful could do nothing. 

GIVING OFFENCE UNINTENTIONALLY. 

I have carefull)^ avoided hurting the feelings of 
my brethren when at peace with them, but in heated 
controversy it is unavoidable. Some men regard a 
hard arguinent as a personal assault, and a smart 
repartee as a grievous offence. But we sometimes 
say things either in animated conversation or in 
public speaking which are taken as personal thrusts 
or innuendoes when they are not thus intended, and 
this direct application of them is unwarranted and 
unjust. Some men are so extremely sensitive that 
they seem to be always watching for something to 
find fault with, and especially in relation to their 
precious selves. 

I once delivered an address upon an important 
public occasion in which I paid well-deserved com- 
pliments to various gentlemen who were associated 
with the occasion of the meeting. To my amaze- 
ment and sore chagrin, just one year after, one of 
the men whose services I had highly lauded, and for 
whom I had always felt and expressed great admi- 
ration, called me severely to account for what he 
termed ' ' disparaging remarks ' ' in my oration. I 
vehemently repudiated the unfounded imputation, 
and showed him that he entirely misapprehended 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 333 

my language and design. I expressed my deep 
regret that he, with whom for years I had lived 
upon most intimate terms, should suspect me of 
taking advantage of my position to say anything 
disrespectful of a man whose talents, acquirements 
and character I had even boasted of for years. I 
felt deeply wounded, and spoke with emotion. After 
I had said everything in exculpation of myself, I 
took the opportunity thus furnished of turning the 
affair against him,, and showing him that I was the 
more aggrieved party of the two. I charged him 
with treating me unkindly and discourteously in 
allowing this fancied grievance to fester a whole 
year without giving me an opportunity to heal it — 
that he did me a greater injustice in cherishing this 
unkind feeling intentionally than I did him in in- 
flicting a wound upon him without design. I cited 
the law governing cultivated gentlemen in analo- 
gous cases, that an insult, real or presumed, should 
be adjusted or inquired into without delay, so that 
the parties may be reconciled by an explanation or 
apology, and that in the failure of an amicable 
adjustment they may cease future intercourse or 
resort to harsher methods of settlement, as ungodly 
men sometimes do. I demonstrated to him that in 
waiting a whole year before calling my attention to 
this affair, which he had frequent opportunity to do 
either by letter or intercourse, he was a more culpa- 
ble offender than I was ! 

This view of the case took him by surprise. He 



334 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

expressed himself as satisfied with my disavowal, 
but I was not invited to his house for several years 
after, though his treatment of me more recently is 
more courteous, and I hope he has been convinced 
of his error. 

KOSTLIN's life of LUTHER. 

When the two large 8vo. volumes of this work ap- 
peared in 1875, Dr. Krotel and I had some corres- 
pondence on the subject of translating it, but we 
wisely concluded that the work was too large, would 
take up too much time, would be too costly, and was 
not of that popular character which would suit our 
people, on account of the large extracts from 
Luther's writings, of which most of the book is 
composed. We dropped the matter entirely. 

When in 1882 the abbreviated edition in one vol- 
ume appeared, I immediately began the translation 
of it, in order to have it ready for the commemora- 
tion year of Luther's birth in 1883. It was the 
hardest German I had ever undertaken, and the 
work was slow. I then concluded to call in the 
help of some friends, and divided the work between 
four or five, and herein committed a great mistake. 
Only two of them were real]y competent, and one of 
them worked in such a hurry that much of his per- 
formance had to be gone OA^er again, as was really 
the case of that of all of them, excepting one. 

These corrections and improvements cost me a 
deal of labor of the most perplexing kind, and no 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 335 

wonder that some errors were overlooked and some 
inelegancies passed by. 

The book appeared in the sumraer of 1883 in fine 
8vo. form, and copies of it were sent to numerous 
editors, some of whom assailed the translation 
fiercely, pointing out some mistakes, and decrying 
pretty much the whole performance. I admit there 
was some ground for the reproof, but I attributed it 
all to my translators, but that I acknowledge was no 
sufficient vindication. Some contributors to several 
of our own church papers were also severe upon me; 
others defended the book, and upon the whole our 
church press was favorable to it, though a few scrib- 
blers struck at me personally when deigning to notice 
the book. Some of the errors were corrected in the 
stereotype plates, the price was reduced, and in 
about six months the third edition of 1,000 copies 
was still in demand. 

The Scribners brought out an edition translated 
and published in England, which is said to be very 
fair, though, as a judicious friend tells me, it con- 
tains not a few errors in the rendering, and miscon- 
ceptions of the original text. I presume that many 
copies were sold, as that house has it in its power to 
push forward any book it chooses to put on the 
market. 

The fact is that thousands of readers became 
weary of this subject, as it was so frequently brought 
to their attention, and too many were satisfied with 
the superficial knowledge they had derived from the 



;^^6 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

reading* of some popular biography of Luther, or 
from the hearing of sermons and addresses. 

BAD TREATMENT. 

I presume there are few of us upon whom some 
mean trick has not been played. I do not mean 
such small affairs as being cheated in trade, or over- 
charged in a purchase, or loaned money never being 
returned, or hospitality abused, or favors unrequited, 
or being evil spoken of by some to whom you have 
been kind. These are bad enough, but there are 
some things done to us occasionally which are so 
mean and contemptible, so utterly inexcusable and 
vulgar, so savoring of the sulphurous pit, that you 
cannot think of them with patience. 

Some years ago I was roused up at midnight by a 
terrific knock at my door. A man stood belov/ whom 
I could not distinctly discern, but in a hurried voice 
he informed me that one of the finest young men in 
my church, who lived more than a mile distant, was 
suddenly and alarmingly taken ill and wanted to see 
me. I hurried out to his house with locomotive 
speed, and when I got there, out of breath and half 
dead myself from the exertion, I found that I had 
been deceived. The young man was not sick. The 
thought then flashed upon my mind that I had been 
thus betrayed from home by burglars, who would 
take advantage of my absence to rob my house, and 
then the way I hastened home was a lesson to pro- 
fessional runners, but I found all right and my 
household undisturbed. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 337 

I concluded it was nothing- but a mean trick, 
which no doubt afforded merriment to some sons of 
Belial. They compelled me to take some active 
midnight exercise, and that w^as fun for them, but 
most painful anxiety to mc. 

I will give another instance, v/hich was not only 
unspeakably mean, but ungodly. 

A long time ago a man imposed himself upon me 
as a guest. The best chamber in the house was 
given him, and the ' ' best the market afforded ' ' 
was daily set before him. After he had been with 
me several days, loafing about to no profit to himself 
or advantage to others, he asked me about the value 
of a certain bank's notes. I told him that they were 
not worth a button, the bank was smashed, and a 
bushel of its issues would not bring five cents. He 
then handed me a five-dollar bill of that bank, and 
said that a lady whom he had met in a distant State 
had given him that as a present to a little girl of 
mine. I took it, of course, remarking that Mrs. 

H , who was a friend of ours, surely did not 

know the condition of the bank, but the dishonest 
bearer of the gift said nothing. The child was told 
that the note was worth nothing, and of course 
lamented it. About a year after this lady friend 
visited my family, and my little girl, in her childish 

simplicity, said, ' * Why, Mrs. H , that five-dollar 

note you sent me by Mr. was not good!" 

Mrs. H was amazed and mortified and told 

her she had not sent a bank note, but a five-dollar 



SSo LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

gold piece ! ! What was the natural, logical, though 
unpleasant inference ? The fellow kept the gold 
and gave me the note, which he knew was worth- 
less. 

My name was once forged in a letter purporting 
to be an introduction from me to a country minister. 
The guilty scamp tried to impose upon the minister 
by getting money from him on the strength of the 
letter; but the latter was too shrewd to be deceived, 
and the rascal went away without any ill-gotten 
gain. The forged letter and all the circumstances 
were published in the village newspaper, and the 
people were warned against him. 

HOUSE ROBBED. 

Every now and then, but not often, we hear of a 
minister's house being burglarized, which always 
reminds me of the remark of a Presbyterian bach- 
elor minister, whose house had thus been visited by 
unwelcome guests. He said to me, " What fools 
these fellows must be to rob my house at night, 
when I can't find anything in it in day-time!" 

I had two such visits during my residence on Lex- 
ington street, Baltimore. My study was in a build- 
ing behind the church, and on entering one morning 
I found things in general confusion. It had been 
entered by thieves, but there was nothing there 
they wanted, so that I missed nothing whatever. 
They removed some of my insect drawers from the 
cases, and left them uninjured on the table, having 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 339 

taken, no doubt, a lesson in entomology before 
leaving. 

The second visit I had from these gentlemen was 
one summer evening just after nightfall. My family 
were in the country, and I had gone down town. No 
doubt I was watched, and as soon as I had gone the 
front door was opened with a night-key. My cham- 
ber was entered, and my drawers forced open. A 
heavy gold medal, worth $50 or more, which was 
presented to my brother George by the Masonic 
fraternity, was taken, together with a lot of other 
valuable articles. This robbery was committed by 
the son of my sexton, who was afterwards sent to 
the penitentiary for some other crime. 

The third visit was made at my house in Green 
street. Nothing but clothing was taken, of which 
the ladies' dresses and shawls were subsequently 
recovered by the police. 

CURIOUS WEDDING EVENT. 

I once had a very embarrassing and at the same 
time provoking experience at a wedding. I was 
called upon to unite in matrimony, at the house of 
a friend, a couple who were strangers to me. When 
all was ready I took my position and invited the 
parties to rise, which they did. I had scarcely be- 
gun the service when the lady suddenly left the side 
of the intended bridegroom and ran to a chair, de- 
claring she would not be married. This caper 
created surprise and confusion. The few friends 



340 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

present prevailed upon her to stand up again. I 
proceeded, and off she bolted again. They begged 
her to submit, and she did; but before I was half 
done she darted off the third time, and this insane 
manoeuvre she repeated again several times over, 
until finally she stood long enough for me to con- 
clude the ceremony. The secret was that she was a 
Romanist, and did not believe in the validity of my 
right to perform this service, although she had pre- 
viously given her consent. 

That night I went to the meeting of a scientific 
society, and in the midst of the proceedings a 
strange, out-of-breath man, rushed in, and asked 
me for the license, which I fortunately had in my 
pocket. The mother of the bride insisted on her 
being married over by a Romish priest that night ! 

KOSSUTH IN BALTIMORE. 
(From a leading niorniug paper.) 
The visit of Kossuth to Baltimore during the 
past week threw our city into a perfect furor. Our 
newspaper columns are full of Kossuth only and 
continually. Americans, above all people, perhaps, 
are disposed to give manifestations of popular favor 
to foreign visitors which border upon man-worship ; 
and however worthy Kossuth may be, and however 
noble his cause, certainly the enthusiasm he has 
awakened here is quite equal to all he has a right to 
expect. To publish all his speeches, and all the 
speeches of those who visited him as committees of 
reception, would nearly fill our paper entire. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 341 

" A number of our Baltimore ministers paid their 
respects to him on Monday evening at the Eutaw 
House. We were not present, and learn that there 
were perhaps fifty ministers present. Kossuth is 
doubtless a sincere patriot — a man full of genius and 
full of the love of his country. His manifestation of 
religious feeling is perhaps greater than we have 
ever seen in any man of such political distinction. 

v The address of Rev. Dr. Morris is one of the best 
that have been spoken to Kossuth since he came to 
America. We say among the best because it is full 
of religion, of the providence of God, of the Bible, 
of Protestant Christianity. It was delivered with 
great dignity and impressiveness. The address and 
reply are subjoined. 

KOSSUTH AND THE CITY CLERGY. 

" About seven o'clock a large number of the Pro- 
testant ministers of Baltimore waited upon the Gov- 
ernor, who was addressed in the following beautiful 
and touching address by Rev. Dr. John G. Morris, 
of the English Lutheran church, Lexington street: 

"Gov. Kossuth — These, my brethren and I, appear as the 
representatives of the Protestant clergy of Baltimore to welcome 
you to our city. We have come as the ministers of Jesus Christ 
to pay our respects to you, a Protestant brother in the faith, an 
observer of the Lord's day, an admirer and lover of the Scrip- 
tures, and a worshiper of God. We have come to salute you as 
a defender of the weak, the helper of the oppressed, the advo- 
cate of human rights and the promoter of human libert}-. We 
recognize you as an instrument designed by Providence to rouse 



342 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

the oppressed nations of Europe to a sense of their wrongs by 
so eloquently instructing us in the history of their sufferings. 
Your efforts, Governor, will affect not only your own unhappy 
country, but all Europe will feel their influence. When Hun- 
gary fell we all mourned, and followed Kossuth into his exile 
with our sympathies and prayers ; but who knows but that 
Providence designs from that first fall to raise her higher than 
she has ever been, and from her present enslaved condition to 
make her more free than ever ? God may have seen it neces- 
sary to humble her before exalting her. He often deals so with 
men ; why not with nations ? 

"It was in the exile and apparent humiliation of Luther in 
Wartburg Castle that he forged that mighty weapon with which 
he dealt such tremendous blows on the enemies of the truth, 
and so gloriously carried on the work of the Reformation — I 
mean the German translation of the Bible. He was humbled 
only to be exalted— imprisoned and exiled only to gather 
strength for the coming conflict ; and well did he sustain the 
fight, and nobly did he achieve the victory. 

" It may be that Hungary is now humbled only that she may 
recover her energy — that youths just growing to manhood may 
be the better prepared for the struggle — ^that her warriors, 
statesmen and patriotic women may learn to look to Heaven 
for help. It may be that Kossuth was exiled and humbled that 
he too might fill his quiver with fresher and keener arrows, and 
prepare for himself a mighty weapon to be wielded with terrible 
energy in behalf of his cause. I mean a knowledge of the 
English language. It may be that he was exiled and humbled 
to teach him dependence on God, and to mistrust himself. 

" There is one thing, Governor, which excites our admiration 
in your public speeches and conduct, and which will enlist the 
sympathies of millions of Christian hearts in our country. 
You recognize in all things the direct agency of God — and de- 
pend on Him for success in your cause— you have publicly ac 
knowledged the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. You 
have publicly recommended the religious observance of the 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 343 

Lord's Day. You have in a quiet and unostentatious manner 
frequented the house of God, and have thus set an example to 
hundreds of thousands of foreigners, and of our own country- 
men, who neglect the sanctuary. We admire you for all this, 
independently of many other grounds. We hope these princi- 
ples will continue to animate your bosom, and characterize 
your brilliant career all through the land. 

"Governor, you know what the Psalmist says: 'Except the 
Lord build the city, they labor in vain that build it.' Let that 
be your motto, and the God of nations will bless you in your 
patriotic efforts to deliver your land from the shackles of bond- 
age. May God therein give you success. May He preserve 
your own life until the great work of Hungarian liberty shall 
have been consummated — yea, until all those everywhere groan- 
ing under the yoke of despotism shall have become free. 

Kossuth's reply. 

* * * It is some twelve years ago, ' said he, ' that for 
my decided attachment to the rights of a free press, 
which had never been oppressed except by the arbi- 
trary laws of my country, I was put in prison by the 
Austrian government, where I lay three years. 
The first year they gave me nothing to read and 
nothing to write with. In the second they came and 
told me it w^ould be granted me to read' something, 
but that I must not make my choice of any political 
book, but only an indifferent one. I pondered a 
little, and knowing that a knowledge of languages 
was a key to sciences, I concluded that it might per- 
haps be useful to get some little knowledge cf the 
English language. So I told them I would name 
some books which would not partake in the remotest 



344 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

way with politics. I asked for an English grammar, 
Shakespeare and Walker's dictionary. The books 
were given, and I sat down, without knowing a 
single word, and began to read the Tempest, the 
first play of Shakespeare, and worked for a fortnight 
to get through the first page, (Laughter.) 

* ' * I have a certain rule, never to go on in reading 
anything without perfectly understanding what I 
read. So I went on, and by and by became some- 
what familiar with your language. Now, I made 
that choice because I was forced not to choose a 
book of any political character, I chose books which 
had not the remotest connection with politics. But 
look what an instrument in the hands of Providence 
became my little knowledge of the English language, 
which I was obliged to learn because forbidden to 
meddle with politics. If I had come out of prison 
to England and America without this little knowl- 
edge of your language, I never would have been able 
to express even my thanks for your generous sym- 
pathy; but now I am permitted not only to thank 
you, but to explain my humble views — to explain 
the principles which under the protection of your 
Constitution afford freedom of thought and of con- 
science, and the protection of that freedom even to 
every stranger in your country. And if my humble, 
unpretending explanations can somewhat contribute 
to conserve your generous sympathy in republican 
hearts towards the oppressed nations of Europe, 
what a mighty instrument of welfare and benefit to 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 345 

mankind, because in the hand of Providence, that 
little knowledge which I acquired. ' 

" Kossuth went on to speak of the confidence he 
had in God, from the fact that every time he was 
crushed down to the earth, when he got up again 
upon his feet he was more strong and powerful than 
before — more competent for the fulfillment of his 
duties for his country and for humanity. Ten or 
twelve times they endeavored to crush him, and 
succeeded for the moment, but he never despaired, 
and subsequent events always proved that what God 
does is well done. 

* * Again he enforced the great principle of Christ- 
ianity — brotherly love — in respect to nations as well 
as individuals. He was sure that the time would 
come when nations would acknowledge that princi- 
ple as a rule of conduct, and that this nation was the 
one selected by Providence to lead on this new 
reformation. That glory was reserved not to a 
single individual, but to the United States, to be- 
come the regenerators of international policy, basing 
it upon the principle of Christian, brotherly love. 
(Applause.) Whatever might be the decision of this 
country now, whether willing or not willing to adopt 
that principle, it would sooner or later come to that 
point, w^hen it would feel itself to be the executive 
power on earth of the laws of nature and of nature's 
God. 

' ' Kossuth apologized for his inability to speak the 
English language as well as he could wish, and said 



346 LIFE R.EMINISCEXCES OF 

that it was hard work for him to do it, notwith- 
standing the constant exercise he had. He was 
growing old, and old men did not easily advance in 
the knowledge of languages. Grammar was for 
children — scarcely for men. In conclusion he 
thanked them for their kind indulgence in listening 
to him so long with such attention, and though he 
was somewhat worn out, both in body and inind, 
never would he be so worn out as not to remember 
with gratitude the generous manifestation of their 
approbation and sympathy. Throughout this ad- 
dress, which occupied about twenty-five minutes, 
Kossuth was listened to with breathless attention in 
a crowded room. 

* ' At the conclusion of his felicitous remarks the 
ministers were severally introduced to the illustrious 
stranger by the Rev. Dr. Heiner. The Episcopal, 
Lutheran, German Reformed, Presbyterian, Metho- 
dist and Baptist denominations were all largely, and 
some of them fully, represented. The number of 
ministers present could not be less than fifty or sixty. 
The meeting was one of high gratifi.cation on all 
sides, and will doubtless be long remembered. All 
seemed to be most favorably impressed with what 
passed, and the Governor himself appeared highly 
delighted with the interview. His remarks on the 
subject of divine Providence, especially with refer- 
ence to himself, and the spread and final triumph of 
the principle of brotherly love among all mankind, 
were very beautiful and Scriptural. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 347 

' ' After the interview the clergymen were intro- 
duced to Madame Kossuth and Madame Pulzsky, 
who received and entertained them a while in the 
most handsome manner. ' ' 

Kossuth had been in my church the previous Sun- 
day. The most violent snow-storm of the winter 
prevailed, and very few people were present. I had 
not invited him to church, as a morning- paper said, 
for I never employed such clap-trap measures to 
draw a crowd; but a few days before his arrival he 
wrote to Mayor Jerome to recommend a Lutheran 
church, and he mentioned ours. 

Several years after, a large meeting of Presby- 
terian ministers assembled here. One of them, of 
my name, sought me out on purpose, as he said, to 
thank me for my address to Kossuth. 

LISTS OF LUTHERAN PUBLICATIONS. 

Some years ago (1876) I published a small volume 
which I called BibliotJicca LutJierana^ wherein I gave 
the title of every book or pamphlet issued under the 
name of a Lutheran minister in the United States 
up to that time. It cost me considerable work, and 
was as complete as could be made. Dr. Sheeleigh 
kindly furnished a list of the periodicals of the 
Church, which enhanced its value as a book of refer- 
ence on that subject. 

Of course it did not pay expenses, which I appre- 
hended, but I thought I would publish it as iny con- 
tribution to the Church Jubilee, which was cele- 
brated that year. 



348 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Nearly every year since that I have carefully made 
a list of every publication of book or pamphlet dur- 
ing the year, gathering the titles from 10 or 12 of 
our church papers. I took a sort of church pride in 
exhibiting the literary work of our men, and at first 
I was simple enough to think that many others would 
look upon it with some interest. But I was disap- 
pointed, for no person seemed to notice it, and only 
one editor, and he was not a General Synod man, 
ever made any allusion to it. I should, however, 
say that Mr. Stall, the wide-awake editor of the 
Year Book, prevailed upon me to let him insert the 
list one year as far as October, and wanted it for the 
next, but I replied that few or none would look at it, 
and he should not devote a single page of his admir- 
able book to dead matter. 

It is, however, gratifying to men of cultivated 
taste to observe the progress of literature and of 
authorial activity in the Churchy and even though 
most of the publications are small, yet most of them 
give evidence of advance in geneTous studies. 

For several years, between 1 883-1 886, the Rev. 
Prof. Frick, of St. Peter, Minn., also published a 
list, embracing more of the writings of Scandinavian 
ministers than mine did. I engaged him and Prof. 
Schodde, of Columbus, Ohio, to join me in prepar- 
ing a list as accurately as possible, beginning with 
1886, so that it is likely hereafter no publication of 
a Lutheran minister will be omitted. It is a matter 
interesting to very few, but it is a part of our Church 



AX OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 349 

history which, should be written, even if it should 
only be read by a few. 

July^ 1889. — The above proposition, made to those 
gentleman, was not carried out, so that for four or 
five years we have had no annual list of our Church 
publications. 

VISITS FROM FOREIGNERS. 

I had the pleasure of receiving visits from a num- 
ber of foreign gentlemen, among whom I will men- 
tion only such as now occur to my mind. 

Koch, a German conchologist of great name, 
called at my house, but unfortunately I was just 
getting ready to go to a meeting, and he did not 
stay long. 

Mr. Alexander, an English botanist, spent several 
hours with me looking over my herbarium, which at 
that time was very insignificant. He came over 
here to study the botany of the pine forests of the 
South. He called on his return, but I did not see 
him. 

Prof. Von Raumer and his son, of Berlin, spent a 
whole day here. I went with them everywhere I 
thought worthy of a visit, even to the top of the 
Washington Monument. He was in raptures with 
that view. What he wanted to see particularly was 
a Methodist negro meeting. He wished to study it 
as a psychologist, for he had heard wonderful thmgs 
about it, which are to us every-day events, but to a 
German philosopher they are simply marvelous. He 



350 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

went (I could not go with him that night), and he 
was overcome with amazement, and yet from his 
description I should judge that it had not been a 
very * ' lively ' ' meeting ; still the manifestations 
seemed extraordinary, and he wondered " why the 
government did not break them up ! " He had 
been to Washington, and I shall never forget his 
criticisms on the group of statuary on the east front 
of the Capitol, though this is not the place to record 
them. 

Zimmermann, a learned German entomologist, re- 
mained here some months, and I was with him or 
he at my house almost every day. It was he who 
gave me, as his own offer, a Paris clock worth $36 
and a mahogany book-case for which he gave $40 
for one specimen of an African beetle (Goliathus 
cacicus). 

Young Schaum, a nephew of Germar, whom I 
met in Germany, was also here, and spent many 
hours with me, I have many letters in my book 
from him. 

Years ago most of the young German ministers 
who landed at Baltimore came to my house, and 
some of whom I kept for several days. I believe 
that now few of them are living. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OFFICES HEI<D — PUBWSHED WRITINGS AND MANUSCRIPTS — 
PAPERS READ BEFORE HISTORICAI, SOCIETIES IN MARYI^AND 
— I^EARNED SOCIETIES. 

I HAVE held a number of positions in the Church 
and out of it. The following list includes only the 
most important positions of this character to which 
I have had the honor of being chosen : 

President of the Baltimore Lyceum. 

President of the Linnaean Society of Pennsylvania 
College, Gettysburg, Pa. 

President of the Young Men's Bible Society of 
Baltimore, Md. 

President of the Maryland State Bible Society. 

President of the Maryland Academy of Science. 

President of the Maryland Historical Society. 

President of the Society for the History of the 
Germans in Maryland. 

President of the Historical Society of the Luth- 
eran Church. 

President of the Academy of Church History of 
the Lutheran Church in America. 

Vice President for Maryland of the Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution. 

(350 



352 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

In the Church I have served as President of the 
Synod of Maryland seven or eight times, and several 
times as Secretary; twice as President of the Gen- 
eral Synod, and twice as Secretary; as Director of 
the Seminary for a period of over 60 years, and sev- 
eral times as President and Secretary; as a Trustee 
of Pennsylvania College for about the same time, 
and as President of the Lutheran Historical Society 
ever since the death of Dr. Schmucker. 

I was once elected professor in the Theological 
Seminary, and also in the College, at Gettysburg, 
but I declined, not feeling myself competent for 
either position. It was a joint professorship, but I 
thought the pulpit was my proper sphere. Profes- 
sors were scarce in those early days, and some of us 
young men did not think ourselves qualified for 
every position in church or state, as it is said many 
young men of these modern times do, fit for any 
position. One not very young man said to me him- 
self that he felt himself qualified to fill any place in 
the Faculty of Pennsylvania College, from the Pres- 
ident down. Somehow or other the Trustees differed 
from him, and he has never been offered any office 
in that college, not even a tutorship in Prep ! 

In 1870 I was elected President of the Maryland 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, which I held for a 
long time, but from which I retired to make room 
for another. 

Many years ago I was elected Professor of Natural 
History in the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 353 

which was an office without honor, work or profit. 
To secure certain privileges it was necessary to fill 
the Faculties, upon which a number of men were 
chosen to certain positions in the scientific and theo- 
logical departments, not one of whom was ever called 
upon, and not even expected to perform any service. 

About the year 1858 I was elected a Trustee of 
the Peabody Institute, but I have already considered 
my connection with that institution, and will not 
refer to it further. 

I consider myself the founder of the Linnaean 
Society at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa., 
and was chosen its first President. I was also one of 
the founders of the Mar3'land Academy of Sciences. 

For some years I was nominally Lecturer on 
Zoology^ in the Gett3^sburg College, and several 
times gave partial courses of lectures. The College 
could not afford to pay me any salary, and my ser- 
vices were gratuitous, excepting for one series of lec- 
tures, for which $300 were raised by Rev. Dr. F. W. 
Conrad, C. A. Morris and Samuel Appold, the latter 
of Baltimore, each of whom gave f 100. This was a 
proposition of my excellent friend Dr. Conrad, who 
suggested and secured the subscriptions from the 
other two gentlemen. 

For many years I have been a lecturer in the 
Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, where I have 
given an annual course of lectures on the "Connec- 
tion between Science and Revelation," and also on 
"Pulpit Elocution." 
23 



354 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

In 1886 a number of us in Baltimore established a 
Society for the investigation of the History of the 
Germans in Maryland, of which I was elected the 
first President, and have been re-elected every year 
since. 

In January, 1886, a few of us founded a Baltimore 
County Historical Society at Towson, Md. , of which 
I w^as chosen President. It was composed of very 
few members, and no interest whatever could be 
excited in the subject, and the Society soon became 
extinct. 

For many years I had been one of the three Vice- 
Presidents of the Historical Society of Maryland, 
which office imposes no severe duties. At the an- 
nual meeting of the Society, in Februar}^ 1^9 1, 
John Lee, Librarian, resigned. He received no 
stipulated salar}^, but an annual sum of several hun- 
dred dollars was voted to him. The Constitution of 
the Society requires the annual election of a Libra- 
rian, and as it is an unsalaried office, and as I had leis- 
ure to attend to it, I consented to an election. I go 
there during the winter nearly every day, and spend 
several hours in answering letters, opening docu- 
ments, and receiving new books coming in, giving 
information to visitors who come to consult books or 
old records, and so on. 

The Assistant Librarian, John Gatchell, attends 
to all routine work, and Daniel, the janitor, brings 
the mail and keeps the house in order. 

On February 11, 1894, I was elected President of 
the Maryland Historical Society. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 355 

PARTIAL LIST OF MY PUBLISHED WRITINGS AND 
MANUSCRIPTS. 

Books. 

1832. Catechumens' and Commnnicants' Guide, 

i6mo. 

Exercises on Luther's Catechism, i6mo. 

1834. Henry and Antonio; or, To Rome and Back 

Again (Trans.), i2mo. 
1839. Von Leonhard's Lectures on Geology (Trans.), 

i2mo. 
1842. Exposition of the Gospels, 2 vols., i2mo. 
1844. Year Book of the Reformation, five articles 
in, 8vo. 
Luther's Catechism Illustrated, i2mo. 
1853. Life of John Arndt, i2mo. 
1856. The Blind Girl of Wittenberg, 8vo. 

Catharine Von Bora, i2mo. 
1859. Quaint Sayings and Doings of Luther, i2mo. 
Register of the First English Lutheran Church 
in Baltimore, from 1827 to 1859, i2mo. 
1 86 1. Synopsis of the Described Lepidoptera of the 
United States, 8vo. 
Catalogue of Books for the Peabody Institute, 
8vo. 
1873. A Day in Capernaum, (Trans.) i2mo. 
1876. Bibliotheca Lutherana, i2mo. 
1878. Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry, 8vo. 

1880. Diet of Augsburg, i2mo. 

1 88 1. Journeys of Luther, i2mo. 



356 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

1882. Luther at Wartburg Castle, 12 mo. 

1883. Kostlin's Life of Luther (Trans.). 
1886. The Stork Family. 

Pamphlets. 

1834. Sermon on the Reformation. 

1 84 1. The Study of Natural History — Address at 

Gettysburg. 
1844. Address at the Dedication of Mt. Olivet Cem- 

eter)^, Baltimore. 
1847. Address at the Dedication of Linnaean Hall, 

Gettysburg. 
1855. Martin Behaim — the German Cosmographer. 
i860. Catalogue of the Described Lepidoptera of 
the United States. 
Two Articles on the Chinese Silk Worm 
{Samia Cynthia). In Government Reports. 
Entomology (in American Museum). 
1867. Address at the Reformation Jubilee. 
Luther's Visit to Rome (Year Book). 
The Theses of Luther (Year Book). 
John Calvin (Year Book). 
John Reuchlin (Year Book). 
Luther's Cell in Erfurt (Year Book). 
1874. The Lords Baltimore. 
1876. History of the Theological Seminary. 
- Luther as a Pulpit Orator. 

The Literature of the Lutheran Church. 
1881. The Table Talk of Martin Luther. 
By-ways in the Life of Luther. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 357 

The Asperities of Luther's Language. 
Visits to the Sick-bed of Martin Luther. 

1882. The Young and German Luther. Bogatzki. 

1883. The Lutheran Doctrine of the Lord's Supper. 
Address at the Meeting of the A. A. A. S. at 

Cincinnati. 
History of the Annapolis Tuesday Club. 
Luther in Bronze at Washington. 
1887. The Lutheran Origin of the 39 Articles of the 

Church of England. 

1 89 1. Address at the Muhlenberg Celebration at 

Selinsgrove. 

1892. Conundrum No. 2. 

1893. Address at the Laying of the Corner-stone of 

the New College at Gettysburg. 
The German in Baltimore. 
The Benefits of Historical Societies. 
1895. Sources of Information on the History of the 

Lutheran Church in America. 
My seven scrap-book volumes contain many of my 
newspaper articles of many years. Besides all these 
I have numerous manuscripts, some of which may 
be worth looking at. Among them are, Luther; a 
Drama. Some of these scenes have been printed in 
some of our papers, and a few of them have been 
acted by amateur players. The Life of Hans 
Egede, Preuss on Justification, From Night to 
Morning, a translation from Delitzsch, are included. 
The latter title is not his, but a fancy one which I 
gave it. There is another manuscript, which is an 



358 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

abbreviated translation of a book by Melchior 
Nicoldi in vindication of Luther. 

PAPERS READ BEFORE THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY. 

1861, April 4. The Old Stone Mill at Newport, R. I. 
Dec. 5. The Ailanthus Silk Worm of China. 

1863, Nov. 5. A List of the Inhabitants of Balti- 

more in 1752, with their Occupa- 
tions, etc. 

1864, Dec. I. The Lords Baltimore as Authors. 

1865, Nov. 2. The Dinners of the Maryland His- 

torical Society. 
Dec. 14. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pub- 
lications of the Maryland Historical 
Society. 

1866, May 3. A paper on the Lords Baltimore, and 

their connection with the Province 
of Maryland. 

1867, April 4. A Paper upon the very frequent use 

of foreign words, both in speaking 
and writing. 

1868, Jan. 2. An account of the Tuesday Club, of 

Annapolis, which existed in 1745, 
et seq. 

1872, June 10. A Contribution to a History of Mary- 

land Literature. 

1873, May 12. Investigation in regard to the Lord 

Baltimore portrait, now in posses- 
sion of Titian R. Peale. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 359 

1 384, Dec. 8. The History of the Society of the 
Cincinnati. 

PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY FOR THE GERMANS 
IN MARYLAND. 

Some of these have been printed in the Proceed- 
ings. 

Sketch of the Life of Prof. Seyfnrth; printed in 
No. IV., p. 17, of Proceedings. 

Arrest and Trial of J. D. Smyth, an English Loy- 
alist, by Germans of Fredericktown, during Revo- 
lutionary times, in 1776, No. IV., p. 35. 

Humane Treatment of their Slaves by the Ger- 
mans of the Shenandoah Valley. 

Biographical Sketch of Rev. John Uhlhorn. 

Abbe Domine's wonderful discovery of Indian 
Antiquities. 

Sketch of Conrad Weiser. 

List of German Books relating to Maryland. 

Account of liberal bequests and donations of for- 
eign born German citizens to charity and education 
in America. 

LEARNED SOCIETIES OF WHICH I AM A MEMBER. 

Corresponding member of the Academy of Sci- 
ence, Philadelphia. 

Corresponding member of the Academy of Sci- 
ence, Boston. 

Corresponding member of the Society of Natural 
History, Nurnberg, Germany, with diploma. 



360 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

Corresponding member of the New York Lyceum. 

Corresponding member of the Iowa State His- 
torical Society. 

Corresponding member of the Society of Northern 
Antiquarians, Stockholm, with diploma. 

Corresponding member of the Royal Historical 
Society, London, with diploma. 

Member of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. 

Member of the National Society of Sciences, 
Washington. 

Member of the American Philosophical Society, 
Philadelphia. 

Member of the Brooklyn Entomological Societ3^ 

Besides these I have been chosen a member of 
eight or ten minor and local scientific societies. 



CHAPTER XV. 

I, AST DAYS— SICKNESS — DEATH— BURIAI, — RESOI,UTlONS, ETC. 

The sturdy figure and resonant voice of the Rev. 
John G. Morris have so long occupied a large place 
in the life of the community and of the Church that 
it is difficult to realize the absence and the silence 
that have followed the active living. The closing 
years of this patriarch of the Church Vv^ere in no 
wise different from the rest. They were also filled 
to the brim with busy labor, in many directions, for 
the Zion he loved so well, and to which he gave the 
v^ery best that was in him of love, loyalty, service, 
for the many interests that claimed his thought and 
his efforts. The years, as they passed, brought no 
perceptible change, outwardly. By the grace of a 
loving Providence Dr. Morris retained his physical 
vigor, his mental forcefulness, and his strong per- 
sonality unweakened even to the last. One by one 
the earthly ties were being severed^ however, and 
the waiting, almost impatient, spirit was finally re- 
leased to join the throng of loved and loving ones m 
the great host of the glorified. 

The last few birthday celebrations of Dr. ]\Iorris 
that showed him prominently to the public, as a 

(361) 



362 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

most vigorous man, in spite of the great age to 
which he had attained, were very full of enjoyment 
to him. As the eighth decade of his life passed by, 
it became more and more the custom of his friends, 
not only in the city, but at distant points, to unite 
in expressions of congratulations and good wishes. 
The following extracts from the city papers will in- 
dicate something of the love and esteem that were 
bestowed upon him, and in which his closing life 
rejoiced, as a deserved tribute to a life well spent. 

One of the Baltimore morning papers remarked, 
on November 14, 1893: " Dr. John G. Morris, who 
claims to be the only man living who had a father 
in the Revolution, will be ninety years old to-day. 
It was announced at the meeting of the Maryland 
Historical Society last night. Resolutions of con- 
gratulation were offered and adopted, and on motion 
it was decided to send the Doctor a bouquet of flov/- 
ers to-day. Dr. Morris was present at the meeting. 
He arose and said: * This is a surprise to me. I 
have received congratulations, and expect many 
more in my mail to-morrow. I must tell you that 
this is exceedingly gratifying. It is difficult for me 
to believe that I am ninety, and I sometimes believe 
that the recorders of my birth have set the clock 
ahead of time. I expect I shall be wished many 
happy returns of the day, as the new bride was, but 
the clock will soon stop its ticking. . The will of the 
Lord be done. ' ' ' 

In speaking of the anniversary noted above another 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 363 

paper said: " One of the most notable men of the 
Lutheran Church in the United States is celebrating 
the 90th anniversary of his birth to-day. That man 
is the Rev. John G. Morris, D. D. Not only does 
Dr. Morris hold a notable position in the Church on 
account of his learning and piety, but he occupies a 
unique place by reason of his extreme age. For 
some time past the Lutheran ministers of Baltimore, 
of whom Dr. Morris is chief, have been considering 
in what way they could best observe the birthday of 
the venerable preacher, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to take charge of the matter. After many 
plans had been suggested, it was decided to present 
Dr. Morris with a group picture of all the Lutheran 
ministers in Baltimore. Taking the picture with 
them, the ministers went in a body to Dr. Morris' 
residence. The Rev. Dr. Chas. S. Albert in a few 
words congratulated Dr. Morris on his venerable age 
and good health. He also thanked him in the name 
of the Lutheran ministers of Baltimore for what he 
had done for the Church in this city and for the 
Church in general. Recognizing his deep interest 
in the Church, and his solicitude for the welfare of 
Lutheran preachers, it gave him great pleasure, he 
said, to present the venerable head of the Lutheran 
Church in Baltimore with a group of his fellow- 
preachers. 

" Dr. Morris made a feeling response, in v/hich he 
expressed love for the Church and an unabated in- 
terest in the success of all Lutheran ministers. Dur- 



364 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ing the day the Maryland Historical Society sent a 
magnificent basket of ninety roses. The German 
Historical Society proposed giving the Doctor a 
dinner, but he declined the honor. ' ' 

Among the many letters of congratulation that 
were received by Dr. MoiTis on this ninetieth anni- 
versary the kindly feeling expressed by all showed 
the extent of the regard for a man who had almost 
rounded out the century of work. Said the Rev. H. 
Louis Baugher, D. D., " Allow me to join my con- 
gratulations to the many that will reach you on the 
scores you have made in life. ' ' The Faculty of the 
Seminar}^ of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at 
Chicago said, among other pleasant things: "We 
congratulate Dr. Morris upon what his eyes have 
seen and his ears have heard in the development of 
the Lutheran Church in this country; upon the good 
work he has been enabled to do, and upon the hon- 
orable place he has taken in her growth and history. " 

From a number of entomologists, of Washington, 
D. C, there came this sentiment: " Your friends 
and fellow entomologists send heartfelt greetings on 
5^cur 90th birthday. Vv^e connect you with the very 
beginning of entomology in this country, and hold 
you dear, not only for your works, but also for your 
big heart and jovial nature." 

The Faculty of the Theological Seminary at Get- 
tysburg wrote: " Your colleagues in the Faculty of 
the Theological Seminary send congratulations on 
the 90th anniversary of your birth. They rejoice 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 365 

with you in the good Providence that has given you 
so many happy years of prominent, distinguished 
and efficient service in the church of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and hope that many more years may be 
granted to you. ' ' 

Judge Albert Ritchie, of the Superior Court of 
Baltimore city, wrote : " I most cordially congratu- 
late you on your birthday, and unite with your many 
friends in the earnest hope that you may long be 
with us, and that good health, happiness and pros- 
perity may wait upon you. ' ' 

On the occasion of Dr. Morris' ninety-first anni- 
versary, November 14, 1894, from the Maryland 
Society Sons of the American Revolution was re- 
ceived the following, through the Secretary, Mr. John 
R. Dorsey: " Allow me to extend the congratula- 
tions of the Maryland Society S. A. R. to its honored 
member who to-day celebrates his ninety-first birth- 
day. May you, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, 
be granted many more years of usefulness to your 
friends and happiness to yourself. ' ' 

The same anniversary brought this from the offi- 
cers of the House of Refuge, a reformatory school 
of the city, of which Dr. Morris was long a manager, 
on the part of the city : ' ' Permit us to offer our con- 
gratulations on this 91st anniversary of your birth. 
We who have so long experienced so many tokens 
of your kindness, so many words of S3^mpathy and 
encouragement in our work, feel grateful to our 
heavenly Father that He has prolonged your life to 
this time." 



366 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

President D. C. Gilman, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, thus expressed his interest in the 91st anni- 
versary of Dr. Morris: " Allow me to offer yon my 
very warm congratulations on having reached 
another birthday with vigor unimpaired ; and let me 
beg you to impart to others the secret of good health 
and good spirits that you obviously possess." 

The sunshine that brightened the life of Dr. Mor- 
ris was dimmed in the last days by clouds of sore 
affliction and of loss which shadowed his pathway in 
1893. This affliction was the sudden death of two 
persons from the inner circle of his regard, one from 
out the very centre of his love. From that time the 
strong man was bowed down, and the life forces 
began to go out. His tender heart was sadly 
wounded, and he turned more than ever to that 
place where his treasures were held in eternal safety, 
waiting his enjoyment of them. To all who knew 
and loved Dr. Morris, the inevitable change that was 
fast coming over him was easily perceptible. But 
the unflagging interest in everything — all the former 
objects of work and study — the development of the 
Church — this was, to the casual observer, as strong 
and bright as ever. The forming of the Academy 
of Lutheran Church History was one of the achieve- 
ments of his closing life upon which he loved to look 
with commendable pride. Some one, writing in the 
Workman of April 25, 1895, said of him: " The most 
prominent and most interesting figure at the recent 
meeting of the Academy of Lutheran Church His- 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 367 

tory in Philadelphia was its venerable President, 
Rev. J. G. Morris, D. D., LL.D. His erect form, 
strong and clear voice, prompt and-vigorons rulings, 
brusque wit, intimate personal acquaintance with 
all, both young and old, and complete devotion to 
present interests of the Church, almost made one 
doubt that he could be any other than one whose 
ministerial activity was parallel to the average of 
those who were present. But the records show that 
when he was a student the entire Lutheran Church 
in America was no larger than the number of com- 
municants now enrolled within a radius of forty miles 
from Philadelphia. His memory goes back to be- 
yond the formation of any Synod but the Ministerium 
of Pennsylvania and New York and the Synod of 
North Carolina, and of course that of the General 
Bodies. Time seems after all not to fly rapidly when 
such vigor belongs to one who was a leader in the 
Church before men who are now decrepit were 
born. ' ' 

The summer of 1895 found Dr. Morris in poor 
physical health.- Always accustomed to great exer- 
tion without apparent discomfort, little things easily 
tired him now. But on the 226. of February, 1895, 
he was able to perform a series of duties that would 
have taxed the strength of a much younger man, 
and then came home and secured a night's rest that 
was as undisturbed, sound and refreshing as that of 
a little child. The day was spent in this way : In 
the morning Dr. Morris attended the funeral of an 



368 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

old friend, and took part in the obsequies. After 
the funeral he went to the Johns Hopkins University 
and participated in the annual exercises peculiar to 
Founder's Day at that great institution. In the 
afternoon of the same day he was present at and 
took part in a celebration at the House of Refuge, 
a few miles outside of the city, remaining nearly all 
the afternoon. After the evening meal with his 
family he went to the regular meeting of the So- 
ciety for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 
presided at the m.eeting with his accustomed vigor, 
and came home alone about eleven o'clock, fresh and 
apparently unharmed by the day's work. All this in 
February of the year in which he died. From that 
time bodily vigor began to decline. Infirm ity of body 
grew apace, and yet the wonderful brain remained 
unclouded — wonderfully active. The busy pen kept 
moving, and columns of the Church papers gave re- 
peated evidence of Dr. Morris' literary activity, even 
on the day that the news of his death flashed through 
the Church. Dr. Morris held a pen up to the last. 
The articles that appeared in the Church papers in 
October, 1895, over the ever familiar letters, "J. 
G. M.," were written by him, some of them not 
longer than three weeks before his death. The 
end came painlessly, at his summer home, Luther- 
ville, Md., October 10, 1895, at 11:10 p. m. The 
weary wheels stood still. Nature gave up the strug- 
gle, and the giant soul passed out of life here to the 
perfect life beyond, for which it had been longing 
many weary years. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 369 

The Synod of Maryland was celebrating in Balti- 
more the 75th anniversary of its organization at 
almost the precise moment of the departure of its 
oldest member. The President of that Synod, the 
Rev. E. H. Delk, in his annual report, said: " There 
is lying dead in our midst one of the great men of 
our Synod and the whole Church. Rev. John G. 
Morris was the nineteenth-century incarnation of 
Luther. His intellectual attainments, his fine liter- 
ary taste, his virile temper, his wit. his indomitable 
energy, his warm and tenacious affections, his con- 
servation of our doctrinal beliefs, his masterful ad- 
dress, his large hope of our denominational prestige 
and his childlike trust in God, have left an inefface- 
able record upon our synodical and church life. His 
work and spirit can never die. ' ' 

On the morning of October 12, 1895, after brief 
services at the Lutherville home of Dr. Morris, con- 
ducted by Rev. Dr. Dunbar, pastor of St. Mark's 
church, Baltimore, the body was taken to Baltimore, 
where appropriate services were held in the presence 
of a very large assemblage of friends and acquaint- 
ances at St. Mark's church, of which the family of 
Dr. Morris have long been members, and where 
Dr. Morris himself w^orshiped during his winter 
residence in the city. The members of the Synod 
of Maryland, which had adjourned for the purpose 
of being present, occupied the front pews. Rev. 
Drs. Dunbar, Studebaker and Valentine took part in 
the preliminary service, and addresses were deliv- 
24 



37° LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

ered by Rev. Dr. Benj. Sadtler, Rev. Dr. Chas. S. 
Albert and Rev. O. C. Roth. Rev. Dr. Dunbar closed 
the service with a few appropriate remarks, iind 
borne by a special train the body, accompanied by 
representatives of the Synod of Maryland and the 
family of Dr. Morris, was taken to York, Pa., and 
there interred, according to the request of Dr. Mor- 
ris, beside the bodies of his wife and daughter. The 
services at the grave were conducted by Rev. Drs. 
Dunbar and A. W. Lilly. 

This brief summary of the closing scenes of so 
useful and honored a life will not be complete if it 
omits some recognition of the kind words that were 
spoken and written and printed concerning a man 
who had hosts of friends in all classes, in all sections 
of the Church, that were so dear to him. This list 
is well begun with the words of one who was a long- 
time friend of Dr. Morris, Hon. Chas. A. Schieren, 
ex-Mayor of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Schieren wrote : 
" I ahvays revered Dr. Morris as one of God's 
chosen men. His great age seemed phenomenal; 
his exuberant spirit, ready wit and natural humor 
made him popular, and drew men to him. He was 
fond of young men. He was possessed of good 
sound common sense, and well calculated to be a 
leader and a counsellor. Dr. Morris enjoyed the 
rare privilege of living to see the fruit of his early 
planting. He was considered the Nestor of Luther- 
anism in Baltimore. The marvelous growth of the 
Lutheran Church in Baltimore is largely due to his 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 37 1 

energy, sagacity and wise counsel. He believed in 
pushing- the work forward, and was untiring in his 
effort to accomplish it. He loved the Lutheran 
Church, and his name will ever be connected with 
that Church as one of her foremost sons. His love 
and ardent spirit will ever be remembered and live 
long in the hearts and minds of the people of the 
Church." 

Dr. Morris' best work was along church lines, and 
particularly Lutheran lines. No man was better 
known than he among the rank and file of the laity. 
The Synod of Maryland appointed a special commit- 
tee to prepare a memorial upon the death of Dr. 
Morris. It follows here : 

IN MEMORIAM. 

REV. JOHN G. MORRIS, D. D. , LL.D. 

" Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen 
this day in Israel?" 

In the inscrutable providence of the all-wise God 
this session of our Synod, as it marks the rounding 
out of three-quarters of a century of its history, has 
been impressively overshadowed by the manifesta- 
tion of the Divine Presence in the closing of a life 
identified with its work from its earlier years. In 
the very hour when we gathered to recall the past, 
in which he had so prominent a part, the spirit of 
John G. Morris passed serenely and calmly into the 
eternal future. Into the music of our anniversary 
joys came the notes of the minor chord, not to bring 



372 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

discordant sound, but to make it more sv/eet and 
tender and rich and heavenly. 

With full hearts and bowed down with sorrow, 
with a profound sense of our loss, we yet reverently 
recognize the hand of divine love in this dispensa- 
tion, and rejoice in the triumph of faith which sus- 
tained this servant of God through his long life, 
strengthened him in his declining years, and made 
him victor over death. 

As a Synod we desire to express hereby our high 
regard for the character of him who has thus been 
summoned from among us. Rugged and sturdy, 
we were made to feel again and again the force of a 
sincerity of purpose which would not stop to com- 
promise or hide itself under the duplicity of soft 
words. To all of us he was a father, and we have 
often felt the throbbing of the tender heart as with 
cheering words he encouraged us in our work. 

It is only proper, too, that we should give recog- 
nition to his mental endowments and acquirements. 
He was indeed ' * our Gamaliel, ' ' at whose feet we 
sat in attentive attitude as learners. A mind well 
cultivated and stored with knowledge in many de- 
partments, he stood pre-eminent among his breth- 
ren, and was the intimate companion and associate 
of scholars. 

Nor should we fail to bear testimony to his service 
to the whole Church. A leading spirit in many of 
her most important enterprises, the touch of his 
hand was felt upon all. A staunch Lutheran, a 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 373 

very Luther in spirit, his Church was dear to him, 
and its every movement was a matter of concern to 
him which even old age could not diminish. 

For what he was to us in the Maryland Synod it is 
only proper for us to bring our special memorial of 
loving esteem. Ordained to the ministry in 1826, 
to this Synod belongs the honor of having his name 
enrolled through all his long ministry, reaching to 
the eve of three scores and ten. He was the con- 
necting link with the past, and at the same time one 
of the most potent factors of our present. He loved 
his Synod as his Synod loved to honor him. 

In the deliberations of this body his voice has 
always been heard with profound respect. His 
vacant chair no other can fill. 

In this solemn hour, and in the presence of this 
dispensation, our hearts are tender, and we feel the 
touch of the divine finger. Into the silence of our 
sorrow comes the summons to greater devotion and 
more earnest consecration to the trust committed to 
our keeping by the fathers who are passing away. 
We pray for grace that in our inefficiency we may 
be made strong and faithful. Our days are num- 
bered. No man knows the number of them. It is 
for us to " do the work of Him that sends us while 
it is called to-day." 

We do not forget those whose less is greater than 
our own. Our hearts go out in tender sympathy to 
those who sit in sorrow in the home. We commend 
the bereaved family to the God of all consolation. 



374 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

whose hand can apply the balm of Gilead to the 
bleeding heart, whose grace is sufficient for us, 
upon whom we may cast all our cares, for He careth 
for us. Respectfully submitted, 

W. H. Dunbar, 
Chas. S. Albert, 
Wm. H. Davis. 
One institution of the Church appealed most 
strongly to Dr. Morris; the Seminary at Gettys- 
burg was a source of interest and anxiety to him. 
He gave it his time and his prayers and his efforts. 
He loved it. The resolutions of the Faculty on his 
death are here recorded: 

" Whereas, The summons to depart and to be with Christ 
has come to our venerable colleague, the Rev. John Godlove 
Morris, D. D., LL.D., who for a period of nearly seventy years 
has been connected wuth this Seminar}^, having been enrolled 
as a member of the first class, and having served almost contin- 
uously as a director and lecturer, holding to the day of his death, 
at the ripe age of ninety-two, both positions with undiminished 
interest and with unimpaired faculties ; and, 

''Whereas, He sustained the closest personal relations to 
almost every professor of the Seminary from its foundation to 
the present. 

" Resolved, That in the ample endowments of our late distin- 
guished colleague, in his scientific tastes, his literary culture, 
his voluminous authorship, his biblical and theological learning, 
his eloquence in his pulpit, his devotion to the Church, his tire- 
less labors for her educational institutions, his outspoken love 
for her doctrines, his exemplification of her life, his childlike 
faith, his virile spirit, tinged by kindly affection and sprightly 
humor, his sturdy independence, united with a sincere catho- 
licity, his buoyant temper, keeping his youth perennial and his 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 375 

versatile miud in perpetual activity, we recognize that extraor- 
dinary combination of gifts and powers which have challenged 
the admiration and wonder of the entire Lutheran Church and 
left a noble and ineffaceable impress upon her history. 

'■'■ Resolved, That we place on record our gratitude to God for 
the uncommon measure of life and vigor by which he was en- 
abled to continue for so long a period his labors for the Church, 
our appreciation of his great and sanctified personality, and of 
his manifold services to this institution, and our profound sor- 
row over the void in it left by his decease. 

^'Resolved, That we tender to the family of the deceased our 
heartfelt condolence, and that a copy of these resolutions be 
forwarded to their address. 

The Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania College 
adopted the subjoined resolutions: 

"Whereas, Since our last meeting it has pleased God to 
call home at a ripe age our venerable brother, Rev. Dr. John G. 
Morris, and we desire to give fitting expression to our sense of 
his great usefulness and woi-th, and also of the loss which we 
and the Church at large have sustained by his departure. Now, 
therefore, be it 

" Resolved, i. That the death, at the advanced age of ninety- 
two years, of Dr. Morris, the sole survivor of the founders and 
patrons who participated in the incorporation in 1832 of Penn- 
sylvania College, is an event well calculated to arrest the atten- 
tion of every one bearing any relation to this institution. For 
more than half a century we have enjoyed his devoted service 
and profited by his friendly counsel. He alone of the faithful 
band whose sagacity and zeal founded the College lived to see 
it attain the present flower of its success. 

^^ Resolved, 2. He was possessed of fine natural endowments, 
which he enriched by extensive and varied culture. He invaded 
many fields of knowledge, and earned some laurels in every 
field. He was honored with well-merited titles and degrees at 
the hands of numerous learned associations of his own and for- 



37^ LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

eign lauds. The labor of his love, however, was spent ia adding 
to the store of information relating to the founder of the Church 
of his choice and the literature of her sons. 

^''Resolved, 3. Our sense of grief at Dr. Morris' death is miti- 
gated only by our consciousness of his great usefulness and 
gratitude for his long life. 

" We commend to the divine care those immediately afflicted 
by his demise, and tender to them that measure of consolation 
which our sympathy can afford. 

"S. D. SCHMUCKER, 

**W. H. Dunbar, 
"JKR^ Cari.." 

The General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in North America was in session at Easton, 
Pa., at the time of Dr. Morris' decease. In that 
body of men there were very many friends, warm 
and life-long, of Dr. Morris. As soon as the news 
of the sad event reached the delegates a committee 
was appointed to draft suitable resolutions, of which 
the following is a copy : 

* ' Resolved^ That we have learned with sorrow of the death of 
Rev. J. G, Morris, D. D., Lly.D., the personal friend of many 
members of this General Council, who has filled so important a 
part in the history of our Church in this country ; that we are 
thankful for his preservation in active usefulness to an age so 
unusual ; and that w^hile we rejoice in his distinguished services 
so long continued, we deeply sympathize with his sorrowing 
family and friends in their bereavement. 

'''' Resolved y That a copy of this minute be sent to his family. 

"Jos. A. Seiss, 
*'S. Laird, 
"A. Spaeth." 

For a number of years an informal association of 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 377 

the Lutheran clergy of the General Synod residing 
in Baltimore and vicinity has had semi-monthly 
meetings. During the winter these gatherings were 
at the home of Dr. Morris, the honored President. 
He was always fond ot such social assemblies, and 
his death removed the inspiring spirit of the asso- 
ciation. As a very imperfect expression of appreci- 
ation and reverence, as well as of regret, the follow- 
ing was adopted by the members: 

" Resolved, That as an association we liave met with no ordi- 
nary loss in the removal from us of our ' brother-beloved ' and 
our honored President, Rev. John G. Morris, D. D., LIv.D. 
Known so long and so intimately by our entire Zion as one 
prominent in the councils and conduct of our Church, yet to us 
who met him so frequently and knew him so intimately * his 
loss is the more deeply felt. ' And more than once have we, as 
we have come together, recalling his cheerful, kindly, hearty 
interest in all that pertained to us and ours, been prompted to 
cry : 

" ' O, for the touch of a vanished hand 
And the sound of a voice that is still.' 

"Yet much as we miss him, we have reason for profound 
gratitude for his long, honored and useful life. And when it 
drew near its close he was spared from pain and anguish. In 
the evening of the long day he 

" ' But stepped out into the shadow. 
The weary wheels of life stood still. 

"We shall meet him again. We shall know him again It 
were a double grief if the true hearts who loved us here should 
on the other shore remember us no more.' 

"Dr. Morris had no guess for his dying pillow. He 'knew 
whom he believed.' Our hearts hold to the confident hope that 
we shall, in the Church triumphant, meet, greet and renew the 
friendship and the fellowship here severed. 



37^ LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

** Our hearts go out prayerfully for those in closer touch with 
our brother, * foud friends ' and loved ones. And our prayer is 
that the Infinite Hand may lead and keep them. 

*'G. W. M11.1.ER, 
"F. Ph. Hknnighausen, 
*' I. C. Burke, 

'■'Committee.^'' 

One of the subjects of study of v/hich Dr. Morris 
was especially fond, and to vv^liich he devoted a very 
great deal of his leisure time, was entomology. 
His work in this branch of science has won world- 
wide praise and recognition. He numbered his 
friends among the foremoct entomologists of the 
world. Upon information of his death the follow- 
ing paper was prepared by the Brooklyn Entomo- 
logical Society: 

At the meeting of the Brooklyn Entomological 
Society held Tuesday, November 5, 1895, formal 
announcement was made of the death of Dr. John 
G. Morris, an honorary member. 

Of the members present several spoke of the work 
done by him in the Lepidoptera in the early days 
of entomological science in the United States, and 
others of pleasant personal recollections. Upon 
motion it was unanimously 

''Resolved, That in the death of Dr. John G. Morris the 
society loses an honored member, upon whom we all looked 
with love and regard ; that Entomology, and especially Lepi- 
dopterology, loses its pioneer in the United States, whose work, 
when work was difficult, lightened the burdens of others, and 
formed a foundation upon which they builded. 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 379 

^^ Resolved, That this memorial be spread upon the minutes 
of the society, and that a copy of it be transmitted to his repre- 
sentatives. 

"John B. Smith, President. 

"Geo. D. Hulst, Rec.Sec. 

"Archibald C. Weeks, Co7\ Sec.''* 

The entire active life of Dr. Morris may be said 
to have been spent in the city of Baltimore, to which 
he came in 1826, a young minister. He became 
prominently identified with many public enterprises, 
and especially with those of a scientific as well as of 
a philanthropic character. One of the first sort was 
the Maryland Academy of Sciences, which took the 
appended action on the death of Dr. Morris : 

" At a meeting of the Maryland Academy of Sci- 
ences held November 4, 1895, upon motion of Rev. 
Geo. A. Leakin, it was unanimously resolved that a 
committee of three members, of whom the President 
should be chairman, be appointed to prepare resolu- 
tions of respect to the memory of Rev. John G. 
Morris, D. D., a President and one of the founders 
of the Academy. ' ' 

"The committee therefore submit: That in the 
death of our respected and beloved President, the 
Reverend Doctor John G. Morris, the Academy de- 
plores the loss of one who in the vigor of his man- 
hood was one of the chief promoters and friends of 
the institution. 

As one of its founders he engaged with earnest 
self-sacrifice in everv measure calculated to advance 



380 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

its welfare. During many years he was a regular 
attendant at the meetings, and his genial remarks 
and eloquent addresses always contributed to the 
interest and pleasure of these occasions. His kind- 
ness of heart and willing helpfulness were recognized 
and appreciated by all the members who kne w him. 
As an observer of natural objects he was most assid- 
uous and painstaking, and by constant activity he 
accumulated vast stores of information relative to 
the insects, animalcules and plants which occur in 
the neighborhood of his home at Lutherville. Other 
institutions and societies have dwelt upon his ability 
and acquirements as theologian, scholar and histor- 
ian. It is ours to recognize his value as scientist 
and writer upon natural history. In this depart- 
ment he will continue to be best known as the author 
of the ' Synopsis of the Described Lepidoptera of 
North America,' and a * Catalogue of the same,' 
published by the Smithsonian Institution. 

' ' He was also a member of many scientific socie- 
ties, both in this country and Europe, and in none 
was his presence more highly appreciated than in our 
well-known American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science. His friendship was valued by such 
men as Silliman, Agassiz and Henry, and he was 
welcomed by the most eminent scientific minds of 
Europe and America. It rarely falls to the lot of a 
man, however gifted, to have lived so long and ex- 
perienced so much in all that is high and best, and 
to have left such a wide impression for good in a 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 381 

rapidly growing community, as our deceased, friend. 
His Avhole life spans the greater part of a century, 
and leaves behind a precious legacy of good example 
worthy of perpetual remembrance. ' ' 

As already told in this book. Dr. Morris was one 
of those actively interested in securing the magnifi- 
cent statue of Luther that adorns the Capital of the 
United States. The Luther Statue Association has 
placed the following tribute to his memory on 
record : 

" The Rev. Dr. Morris, whose Lutheran and Christian loyalty 
has been so conspicuous and consistent for so many years, 
reflecting honor upon the Lutheran Church, and always exalt- 
ing the Christ whom he served, born in the third year of the 
century now closing, lived until October, 1895, retaining to the 
very closing months of his long, brilliant and useful life the full 
vigor of his robust and well-rounded manhood. Distinguished 
alike in the world of letters and of science, but always exalting 
Luther and 'the Name that is above every name,' he has left 
upon the generations whom he survived, as upon the generation 
that now survives him, an imperishable record of labor and faith 
in the gospel." 

A very marked characteristic of Dr. Morris was 
his interest in the young. Young people, especially 
children, were a source of great concern. His heart 
was full of tenderness for the growing generation, 
whose laudable efforts he frequently applauded, 
while he discouraged and despised anything that 
had the appearance of meanness or deceit. It was 
this trait that drew young people to him, and none 
more so than the members of that unfortunate class 



382 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

who, often lacking the correcting influence of par- 
ental love, became, temporarily, wards of the city 
and State. For many years Dr. Morris was one of 
the Board of Managers of the House of Refuge, a 
reformatory for boys, in the city of Baltimore, and 
after his death the following action was taken by 
the Board: 

"At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the House of 
Refuge, held this nth day of October, 1895, the following was 
unanimously passed : 

"Whereas, In the dispensation of an all-wise Providence, 
it has pleased his Creator to remove from amongst us our late 
beloved associate. Rev. John Godlove Morris, who, like a sheaf 
of wheat fully ripe, has been gathered to the harvest, it behooves 
us, his late colleagues and friends, to give expression to our sor- 
row and regret at the sad bereavemeut ; be it, therefore, 

''Resolved, That in the death of Rev. John G. Morris we 
recognise the great loss sustained, not only by the managers 
and inmates of the House of Refuge, but by the community at 
large, of which he has been for so many years a conspicuous 
and useful member. 

''Resolved, That with a sturdy independence of spirit, inher- 
ited from his Revolutionary ancestors, he combined a gentle 
and kindly heart, always awake to the impulses of charity and 
humanity, and so lived that his words, acts and walk in life 
were a complete demonstration of that noblest work of God — 
an honest man and a Christian gentleman, 

"Resolved, That as a profound scholar, a liberal and devout 
theologian and pastor, Dr. Morris has left his mark upon the 
record of his times, and his death has left a void in the man}- 
circles in which he moved that wall be long felt and difficult to 
fill. ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
forth ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, 
and their works do follow them. ' 



AN OLD LUTHERAN MINISTER. 583 

^^ Resolved, That this testimonial of respect to his memory be 
inscribed upon our records, and a copy be forwarded to the 
family of the deceased, and published in the papers of this city. 

"Joshua IvEvering, President. 

"Maurice Laupheimer, Secretary.''' 

At the regular monthly meeting of the Society for 
the History of the Germans in Maryland, held 
November 19, 1895, after a number of appropriate 
addresses on the part of members, all eulogistic of 
their late President, Rev. John G. Morris, D. D., 
LL.D., the following resolutions were adopted by a 
rising vote : 

"Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, our heavenly 
Father, in His wise providence, to remove from our midst, to 
His eternal home, our late venerable President, Rev. John 
Gottlieb Morris, D. D., LL.D. 

'■'Resolved, That whilst we mourn and deplore our loss, we 
record our gratitude that he was spared so long beyond the 
usual allotment of human life to adorn a career of signal use- 
fulness as the Christian pastor, the student of science and of 
historical research, the prolific author, the sincere philanthro- 
pist, the trusty citizen, and the tender and genial friend. 

" Resolved, That he had especially endeared himself to us, as 
an organization, for his deep and abiding interest in all our 
pursuits and aims, and that as the descendant from an honor- 
able and worthy German parentage, he not only had a just pride 
in that fact, but that he cherished with a deep and personal 
gratification whatever he could discover of honorable or heroic 
conduct, or of eminence in art or science or literature, in any 
that bore the German name, especially in those that were citi- 
zens, by birth or adoption, in our own beloved city and State. 

'■^Resolved, That this record of our appreciation of his worth 
be entered upon our minutes, and that an engrossed copy be 



384 LIFE REMINISCENCES OF 

given to his bereaved family, with the assurance of our sincerest 

sympathy with them in their sorrow. 

** B. Sadti^er, 
"Chas. Raddatz, 
"Otto P'uchs, 

** Co77tiniiteey 

Words of sympathy and of appreciation were not 
wanting from many all over the Church and beyond. 
In addition to the resolutions given above, similar 
action was taken b}^ the Lutheran Ministerial Asso- 
ciation of York, Pa. , by various conferences of the 
S5mod of Maryland and of other Synods; religious 
and secular newspapers contained more or less ex- 
tended notices and reminiscences, and there was a 
general and generous outpouring of sorrow at the 
death of one of whom it was said " How hard it is to 
realize that he is gone. How much we shall miss 
him. There is no one left to take his place. ' ' 



INDEX. 



A 

Academic Gown, The 46 

Academy, York Co., 11, 12, 14 

" " centennial of 14 

** of Lutheran Church History 366 

Additions to our Church 99, 121 

Albert, Chas. S., D. D., 160, 312 

Alexander, Dr 63 

American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

84, 131, 169, 171 

Amusements, boyish i5» 16 

An actor's criticism 194 

Anglicised Germans 99, 119 

Anonymous letters 205 

Anstadt, P., D. D 158 

Anti-Popery 128 

Appold, Samuel .... 353 

Armand, Colonel 8 

** " letter from 9 

B 

Bachman, Rev. Dr 168 

Bacon, Samuel 12 

Bad treatment 338 

Baltimore, call to 97 

" first communion at 103 

25 (385) 



^S6 INDEX. 

Baltimore, first sermon at 97 

" friends in 98 

" ministers, congratulations of 362 

" opposition in 98, 99 

" pastoral life at 108 

Baltimore County Historical Society, President of the . . . 354 

Baltimore papers, notices of birthday celebrations in . . . 362 

Bancroft, George 321 

Barclay, Joseph, D. D 155 

Battalion days 22 

Baugher, Sr., Dr 308 

Baugher, H. L., D. D., letter from 364 

Bentz, John A 122 

Bethuue, Rev. G. W. . . 41 

Bible Society Agent no 

Birthday celebrations, some of J. G. M.'s 361 

Birth, place and date of 7 

Bishop, Rev. H 158 

Book of Concord 54 

Books, gifts of . 325 

Boudiuot, Elias 8 

Boyish dress 21 

Breckenridge, John 127 

Breckenridge, Robt. J 127 

Brown, J. A., D. D 157, 315 

Buchanan, James, favor asked of 32 

Buchanan, \Vm 32 

Burial 369 

Burke, Rev. I. C 159 

Burr, Aaron 84 

Busy day, a • 367 

Burning old sermons • 109 

c 

Call to the ministry 46 

Chapel on the Belair road, the 179 



INDEX. 387 

Christlieb, Dr 310, 353 

Church and prayer-meeting 5 

Cincinnati, the Society of the 8 

Cline, John P 55, 56 

Clutz, J. A., D. D 160 

College friendships 30 

College slang phrases » 31 

College tricks and jokes 27, 33, 34 

Conrad, F. W., D. D 315 

Conversational Club, the no, iii 

Correspondence at home 208 

Correspondence, church 205 

" private 206 

** scientific and literary 207 

Correspondents, Foreign 205 

Count Castelnau 173 

Courtesy, ministerial 114 

Curious wedding event 339 

Cuyler, Rev. Dr., anecdote of 164 

D 

Dalrymple, Rev. Dr. . 131 

Dancing 15 

Death 368 

Delk, Rev. E. H., words of 369 

Demme, Dr 47 

Diary, keeping a 38 

Dickinson College, life at 40 

*' " fellow classmates 40,41 

'* " professors 41, 42 

" " speeches 45 

Difficulties 138 

Dunbar, W. H., D. D 160 

Duncan, Rev. J. M 126 



388 INDEX. 

E 

Election of Gettysburg Professors and Presidents 306 

English Lutheran churches in Baltimore 161 

'* " ministers in Baltimore ........ 153 

" " churches in the United States 116 

Evans, Rev. W. P 160 

Evidences of Christianity, sermons on 125 

Ewing, Rev. C. H . 156 

Examination for licensure 85 

Excursion to Watkins Glen, N. Y 317, 318 

** to Wheeling and Pittsburg 321 

F 

Faculty of the Chicago Seminary, congratulations from . . 364 

Faculty of the Gettysburg Seminary, congratulations from. 364 

Fairs 22, 23 

Families leaving my church 143 

Feltou, Rev. E 160 

Female Academy in Hagerstow^n, Md., the 155 

First corner-stone 133 

First Church, Baltimore, history of 100 

First sermon in York, Pa., my 87 

Foreign correspondents 205 

Foreign scientists 170 

French and German, studying 21 

Fuller, Dr 139 

Funeral sermons 124 

Funeral services of J. G. M 369 

G 

General Synod at Charleston, S. C, the 168 

" " " Frederick, Md., the 70 

" " President of the 352 

" " Secretary of the <= 352 

German professors « 311 



INDEX. 389 

Gettysburg College, lecturer on Zoology at 353 

Gettysburg Theological Seminary, bequests to 315 

" Board, adjourned meeting of 308 

" collecting funds for 312 

" director of ... 193, 352 

fellow students at 88, 89 

** lectures at 170, 353 

" opposition to 94 

" professor at . . o , 352 

" student life at 88, 89 

" theological course at 93 

Gilman, President D. C 366 

Giving offence unintentionally 332 

Goering, Rev. Jacob, baptized by 10 

Good day's work, a 367 

Graves, Rev. U 159 

Green, Dr., President of Princeton College . 29 

Gustiniani, Rev. Dr 161 

H 

Haldeman, Prof. S. S 169, 208 

Hamma, M. W., D. D 156, 310 

Hay, Chas. A., D. D 134 

Hazelius, Dr 307, 308 

Hefelstein, Rev. A. ....... 129 

Heiner, Rev 129 

Henkel family, the 53 

Henry, Prof, letter from 187 

" " trip with 321 

Hersh, Rev. Chas. H 157 

Heyer, Rev. F 161 

Historical Society, the Baltimore County 354 

'' " the German 354 

'* ** President of the Maryland • 354 

*' " Vice President of the Maryland .... 354 
" " Librarian of the Maryland 354 



390 INDEX. 

Hodge, Prof. A. A. . . o 73 

Home Mission Spirit, the 80 

Houoriad 33 

Hoshour, Rev. S. K 55 

House of Refuge, the 365 

House robbed 338 

I 

Impulsive Minister, an 132 

Inspector Hoffman 206 

J 

Johns Hopkins University, studies at the 170 

K 

Keller, Rev. B 43, 312 

Kemp, Dr. Wm. M 112 

Kind treatment of boys . . . ." 23 

Kossuth in Baltimore 340 

" " address of city clergy to 341 

reply of 343 

Kostliu's Life of Luther 334 

Krauth, C. P., D. D 156 

" Sr., C. P., D. D 133, 323 

Kuhlman, Rev. L 157 

Kurtz, B., D. D 129, 153, 188 

'• " abroad 313 

" " collecting funds for the Seminar}^ .... 312 

Kurtz, J. Daniel, D. D 99, 121 

L 

Last articles of J. G. M. in the church papers 367 

Last da^^s of J. G. M 361 

Learned societies, membership in 359 

Lectures, list of 198 



TNPEX. 391 

Lecture platform, the 197 

Letters of congratulation , 364 

Leyburn, Rev. Dr 126 

Library, my own 109, 324 

Licensed to preach 85 

Lilly, A. W.. D. D 158, 369 

Lincoln, B 8 

Lind, Jenny 316 

Linnaean Society, founder and president of the 353 

List of Lutheran publications 347 

Liturgical movement, opposition to the 116 

Lord's Supper, Lutheran doctrine of the 49 

Loyal ministers during the rebellion 330 

" " resolutions offered by 330 

Lzii/iej^aJi Odserve^'-, early history of the 149 

** " editorship of the 151 

" " name of the 150 

" " "New Measures " in the 146 

Lutheran faith, peculiarities of the 49 

Lutherville, Md., chapel at 180, 190 

" " country home at 188 

'-' " life at 190 

" recreation at 189 

M 

McCron, J., D. D 154, 178 

McCrosky, Bishop S. R 45 

McKnight, H. W., D. D 311 

Magee, I., D. D 157 

Marriage '. 113 

Maryland Academy of Science 322 

" " " President of the 352 

Mason, J. M., D. D 40, 42 

Mayer, Brantz 316, 321 

Melsheimer, Dr. E. F 208 

Microscopy 173 



392 INDEX. 

Military ardor 19 

Miller, G. W., D. D 157 

Ministers leaving our Church 120 

Moravian character and piety 66 

" customs . , 68 

Morris, Chas. A 39. 87, 353 

MSS 357 

Music 19 

Myers, Barbara 9 

N 

Natural History 172 

Prof, of 352 

Nazareth, life at 65 

New Market, Va., fellow students at o 55 

** " list of books read at 59 

" ** Lutheran church at 51 

" " other churches at 51 

" " preaching at c 57 

" " recreatious at 61 

" *' student life at 51 

o 

Offices held 351 

Ordination 117 

Original works 355 

Our Church Paper 54, 165 

Outside work by our clergy 124 

P 

Pamphlets , 356 

Papers read before Historical Societies in Maryland . . . 358 

Parents 7, 9 

" father died 9 

*' " life of 10 



INDEX. 393 

Parents, mother pious . lo 

*' " beautiful lo 

" other children of ii 

Passavant, W. A., D. D 157 

Peabody Institute, lectures at the 192 

" " librarian of the 176, 181 

" " prejudice against the 182 

" " trustee of the 180,353 

" " unpleasant experience at the 184 

Pearce, Senator 31 

Personal religion 44 

Plummer, Rev. Wm. S 83 

Pocket money for boys ^ 20 

Princeton College, class rank at 27 

'* " college rebellion at 27 

" " contemporaries at 30 

*' *' declamation at 37 

" " entrance examinations at 26 

" " member of American Whig Society at . 26 

" " rival societies at 38 

** " room-mate at 28 

** " social intercourse at 34 

" " student life at 25 

" ** style of religion at 35 

Princeton Theological Seminary, life at ' . 72 

*' '' " matrimonial views at . . 79 

" *' " professors at 74, 75 

** ** " studies at 73 

" '* '* theological views and dis- 

cussions at . . . .74, 75, 76 

Private libraries 322 

Private prayer-meetings 112 

Published writings and MSS 355 



394 INDEX. 

R 

Reader, career as a 191 

Reading, early fondness for 16 

" character of early 17 

Rebellion, the 325 

Religion, emotional 122 

Remarkable conversion, a 140 

Remarkable pause, a o 63 

Resignation as pastor, my 176 

Resolutions of the Baltimore Lutheran clergy 377 

" " Board of Managers of the House of 

Refuge, Baltimore , 382 

" " Brooklyn Entomological Society .... 378 

" " Faculty of the Gettysburg Seminary . . 374 

" " General Council 376 

" " Luther Statue Association 381 

" ** Maryland Academy of Science 379 

" ** Society for the History of the Germans 

in Maryland 383 

" " Synod of Maryland 371 

" ** Trustees of Gettysburg College .... 375 

Ritchie, Judge Albert 365 

s 

Sadtler, B., D. D 50 

Saint Mark's church, Baltimore 159, 178, 180 

Saint Matthew's church, Philadelphia, invited to preach at. 76 

Saint Paul's church, Baltimore 160 

Schaefifer, C. F., D. D 162 

Schieren, Hon C. A 370 

Schmucker, B. M., D. D 324 

" Rev. George 56 

J. G., D. D 13, 49, 72 

S. S., D. D 13 

" " call to New Market, Va 14 



INDEX. 



395 



Schmucker, S. S,, D. D. estimate of 5o, 94, 95, 312 

•' *' first professor at the Gettysburg 

Seminary 14, 307 

'* ** student under 48 

" " theological views of 50 

Scholl, George, D. D 157 

School, first II 

Scientific studies and offices 165 

Scientists, congratulations of 364 

" American 171 

*' foreign 370 

Scrap books , 357 

Scrap book collections 162 

Second church, Baltimore, the 156 

Seiss, J. A., D. D 156 

Sheeleigh, M., D. D 324 

Shulze, Bishop 64 

Sickness . 361 

Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 

President of the . = 354 

Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, papers 

read before the 359 

Sons of the American Revolution, Society of the .... 8, 365 

Smithsonian Institute, the 173, 175, 198 

Sprecher, Rev. S 158 

Stein, James 12 

Stork, Chas. A., D. D , 160, 309 

Stork, T., D. D., 154, 155 

Strecker, Herman 171 

Studebaker, A. H., D. D 156 

Students at my house 134 

Swartz, J., D. D c » , . . . 157 

T 

Teaching c ..... . 136 

Theological Seminary at Columbus, O., donation to the . . 313 



396 INDEX. 

Third church, Baltimore, the . . '. 157, 178 

Thompson, Johu R 181 

Townsend, Jos. K 173 

Translations 355 

Trip up the Hudson, a 84 

Troublesome members . 142 

Trowbridge, Rev. Chas. R. . . 160 

Tyson, Philip 131 

V 

Valentine, M., D. D 310 

Vethake, Prof. 40, 42 

Visits of foreigners 349 

w 

Washington, President George 8 

Weddell, Rev. J. A 161 

Week-day services 133 

Wolf, E.J., D. D 157 

lVo7'kman, tribute in the 366 

z 

Ziegler, Rev. D 169 



H 103 79 



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